


Let Your Bones Show

by xLoveMx



Category: Faking It (TV 2014)
Genre: F/F, Karmy - Freeform, Stripper!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 21:59:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2827508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLoveMx/pseuds/xLoveMx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy Raudenfeld is starting her new life in New York as a Harvard Law Graduate, working in one of the best law firms in the country, unfortunately it belongs to none other than her college friend Liam Booker, who also works there and has been trying to get into Amy´s pants ever since the day they met, and he has no intention of stopping. But what happens when, on her first day, Amy runs into a woman with the most mesmerizing eyes she´s ever seen, and when said woman turns out to be a stripper at a club into which Amy is dragged by her stunning collegue Jasmine? Chaos, that´s for sure...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I´ve been posting this on tumblr only, but I´ve decided to put it up here as well, so enjoy and leave me a comment if you´d like! :)

So this was New York City. It was a lot less close-minded than the town Amy had grown up in, but also a lot less sheltered than Harvard Law School, that was for sure. It wasn´t like people were less polite around here, maybe a little bit more forward, yes, but it was mainly the fact that, suddenly, there wasn´t the security of studying hard and getting good grades as a result no matter what. Suddenly there were people from colleges all over the country, fighting for that one job that would give them a stable career and a good life, and while you certainly had an advantage with a degree in law from Harvard, it didn´t mean that they couldn´t fire and replace you at any given chance should you fuck up. Amy had scored a job in one of the biggest and most well-known law firms in the city, _Booker and Son_ , though she refused to admit that she had gotten it because the son of the owner had been after her ever since he had spotted her at the Harvard Freshmen Orientation.

 Liam Booker was your typical _rich boy-douchebag-womanizer_ type and Amy had hated him the moment he had opened his mouth, trying to use one of the cheapest pick-up lines she had ever heard. She still felt a shiver run down her spine when she so much as thought back on that, so she usually chose to ignore the moment they had met, or his existence, as best as she could. Despite her telling him off multiple times he had kept on trying to get into her pants, and while Liam had fooled around with many girls during their time at Harvard, it was still Amy whom he had recommended to his father. At first she had seriously considered turning the offer down, because the last thing Amy Raudenfeld wanted, was to owe Liam Booker of all people a favour, but it wasn´t easy to get a job these days, and she figured that they wouldn´t have offered her the job if they didn´t like her application and credits, and if being successful meant that she had to deal with Liam, then Amy would be able to do it. She had survived the last few years, so she could get through a couple more, right?

“Of course you can,” Amy mumbled into her coffee cup before taking another sip. It was interesting how she could still feel so alone in a city that was filled with so many people. Of course she´s had so called “friends” at Harvard, but Amy had always been a rather anti-social person and after graduation everyone had gone their separate ways, mostly, and she didn´t really feel like calling any of her old friends up, because where was the sense in that? They would tell each other about their new jobs, or their new apartments and maybe even make promises to visit, but in the end they would be too busy to do it anyway and then being aware that her friends had renovated their apartments and painted their kitchen, or any other room, yellow or whatever colour else, didn´t really matter anymore, did it?

Amy had gotten up way too early this morning so she wouldn´t be too late and had enough time to get ready, but that had resulted at her sitting at a Starbucks at 6.30 when her first day at work wouldn´t start until 8am, so here she was, reminiscing about her life and whether or not this was a good idea, before emptying her coffee cup, and on top of all that she was still about an hour too early for work. Amy sighed and looked around the café, deciding that she would just get herself another cup of coffee and then slowly walk to work. Maybe she could enjoy a little bit of the ‘New York Flair’ everyone was always talking about. She had spent the last few days moving, unpacking boxes, and preparing for work, so she had barely made it out of her apartment at all.

 Amy got in line eventually, pulling out her phone to check if she had any new messages while she proceeded to step forward whenever the line moved. She briefly caught part of the conversation the woman in front of her was having with the barista. Something about ‘a long night’ and ‘annoying customers’ but Amy didn´t really pay too much attention until the line moved again and she took a step forward, crashing right into the woman in front of her, who had turned around to rush away.

“Jeez!” the Brunette promptly let out and Amy was about to reply when she looked up and her eyes met with the other woman´s. For a moment Amy´s breath was literally taken away, and while that could also be due to them almost knocking each other over, she had a slight feeling that this wasn´t the case. The other woman looked absolutely beautiful, her eyes were wide open, still a little in shock, but the darker shade of green was practically sparkling as their eyes met and Amy had a hard time trying to catch her breath. It wasn´t like being attracted to women was new for her, but usually she just looked at them from afar and then maybe, if at all, had a dream about them, but she surely didn´t get this close to anyone. The woman in front of her was still looking at her, so Amy blinked a few times and it was only then that she realized that she was being talked to.

“I said I´m sorry.” The Brunette repeated and Amy could only nod. “I really gotta go, bad night at work and my bed is calling, again: I´m sorry,” and before Amy could react, the other woman was gone, leaving her standing in the middle of Starbucks with her heart pounding in her chest and her breath going faster as if she had just sprinted here from her place. It wasn´t until she was tapped on the shoulder that Amy realized that there was a line forming behind her, so she quickly apologized and moved to order her coffee, though her mind was still with the Brunette. It wasn´t like she was ever going to see her again, that was the disadvantage about living in such a big city, the chances of just running into each other were small, just like the chances that somebody would know who the woman was, and well, Amy didn´t really know anyone in the city in the first place, so that was out of the question.

She sighed and took her coffee before leaving the Starbucks and making her way to work. It wasn´t like she would have done anything anyway. The woman probably wasn´t even interested or gay at all, that would have been just Amy´s luck. The one time she actually asked someone out they weren´t even into girls. It wasn´t like she hadn´t tried dating, but at Harvard most people were more into their studies than into relationships (and well yes okay, so was Amy, more than others probably) and she had also been occupied with trying to keep Liam from getting into her pants.

**Liam.** Amy rolled her eyes at the thought of her college friend and soon-to-be-colleague. She knew that she would be seeing him in a few minutes and she only hoped that they would be assigned to two different partners so she wouldn´t have to deal with him all day.

When Amy reached the law firm, and signed her name at the reception so she would be let up, she hadn´t forgotten about the Brunette from Starbucks. It was stupid, Amy knew that, because there was literally now chance that they would meet again, but she couldn´t get those sparkling green eyes out of her head. She was a little lost in her thoughts by the time she reached the elevator, so she didn´t notice when someone called her name. The moment the doors of the elevator began closing, and Amy turned around, she spotted Liam running towards her and she wished she would have noticed him sooner, because then she could have pushed the buttons for the doors to close, but now Liam was slipping in between them and grinning down at her once he was safely inside.

“Good morning Ames!” he practically chanted and Amy´s mood went down instantly.

“I told you not to call me that,” she informed him, leaning against one of the elevator walls.  Liam rolled his eyes, but he was still grinning, as he wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders only for Amy to shrug it off again.

“Well someone got up on the wrong side of the bed,” he then chuckled, raising his hands in a defensive gesture before letting them fall back to his side. “I asked for us to be assigned together, by the way. This is going to be fun!” the big grin on Liam´s face was back soon enough and the ‘ding’ of the elevator and Liam basically _skipping_ out onto the law firm´s floor were the only things that kept Amy from jumping his throat right there and then.

“This is going to be an awfully long day…” she mumbled with a sigh before stepping out of the elevator, and of course she was right.


	2. Chapter 2

Of course Amy had been right. The law firm had taken on six new lawyers and two of them each were paired up with one of the partners to work with them and to learn from them. Despite there being a 1:5 chance Liam had, of course, managed to have Amy paired up with him. She had complained, but what did you do when the person who you got paired with was the law firm owner´s son and had basically been destined to come here and take over the company eventually? Not much, exactly. She sighed and moved to get into the elevator, glad that Liam was set to go out to dinner with his father and couldn´t follow her around any longer.

“Hey, wait up!” a voice called and Amy turned around, quickly putting her foot out between the doors so they would stay open. “Thank you!” the other woman smiled, a little out of breath, as she came to halt, looking up at Amy. Jasmine was one of the other 4 graduates that the firm had hired besides Liam and Amy, and even though they had attended Harvard together Amy had to admit that she had never really noticed Jasmine and she was beginning to ask herself why. Of course, she had been rather anti-social and more focused on her studies, but Jasmine was pretty and intelligent and Amy was sure that she would have left an impression on her if they had met before.

“What a day,” Jasmine said with a laugh as she leaned against one of the mirrored walls of the elevator. “I mean I wasn´t expecting it to be easy or anything, but there´s so much information to process, I think the notebook I brought with me to take notes is almost full by now,” she chuckled. “How are you doing? You seemed a bit…off.”

Amy rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. “I´m fine, nothing I can´t handle.” She then replied, and it was true. Of course, she was annoyed by Liam 99% of the time, but if she had handled him all those years at Harvard then she could do with a few more years here. At least she got to go home at the end of the day and didn´t have to expect him knocking on the door of her dorm room at night.

“You sure?” Jasmine then asked with another smile as the ‘ding’ of the elevator indicated that they had reached the ground floor. “I mean…I don´t want to be the annoying, nagging colleague, but I like to make sure nice people, who deserve good things, are okay, and you seem really nice,”

Amy looked over at the other woman as they stepped out of the elevator, a slight blush covering her cheeks. It wasn´t like she had never received a compliment from anyone, but since she never really went out much those were rare and the fact that Jasmine was cute and good looking may have played a part in the whole thing as well. Of course Amy would deny that if you asked her, but still.

“I´m okay, really.” She then said with a smile, clutching her bag to her chest. “Liam can be very annoying, but I´ve always known how to deal with him, and I will continue to do so. So don´t worry,” Amy nodded, as if to reassure herself, as they kept walking towards the exit.

“Well…he looks like he can be a pain in the ass,” Jasmine chuckled.  “But you also look like you can handle him, so I´m not worried,” she then added. “We should totally get coffee sometimes, or something. You know, quality colleague time,” Jasmine´s smile grew a little wider and she got out her phone, holding it out for Amy, who needed a moment to process everything. She managed to stop herself from asking _Like…on a date?_ Because Amy had no idea about dates. She had always avoided going on them, because she would have probably ended up embarrassing herself and it wasn´t like it was easy to find any lesbians to go out with when you didn´t tell them that you were actually into girls as well.

Amy had never really come out to anyone, not because she was ashamed, but because there had been no reason for it. In High School she had dated a boy for a while, and the only person she had ever told about her tendency towards girls had been her mother, and only because they had been fighting that day and Amy had wanted to piss her off. They were back on speaking terms by now, but her mother had never really gotten her anyway and had always connected more with her step-daughter Lauren, which had pissed Amy off, so she figured it had only been fair to give her mother something to be pissed about as well.

“Or…not. I mean…” Amy was pulled from her thoughts and looked back at Jasmine, who was about to pull her phone back and put it away. Amy´s eyes grew wide and she quickly reached for the it, taking it from the other woman.  
“No, of course! I mean…I´m sorry, I was…thinking about something. Coffee sounds great, I love coffee.” As soon as she realized that she was rambling, Amy bit her lip and directed her attention towards the phone instead, typing in her number. Once she was done, Amy handed the phone back and tried her best to give Jasmine a smile.

“Good, I was beginning to feel stupid,” the other woman grinned, putting the phone away and then leaning in to give Amy a hug. “I´ve got to go, but I´ll see you tomorrow the latest,” she then added before disappearing into the crowd, giving Amy a last smile over her shoulder.

Amy stood in front of the building for a little longer, thinking about what had just happened. So…was this supposed to be a date? Or was she thinking too much into it? Was Jasmine gay? How were you even supposed to know if a girl was into other girls? Amy sighed, this was probably another reason why she had focused more on her studies than on relationships during her entire life.

-

Once Amy got home, she resisted the urge to let her bag fall to the floor, like she would have usually done, because she couldn´t risk forgetting about anything she still had to go through or to crease the paper or files they had gotten. So instead of just dropping the bag, Amy moved over to her desk and left it there before getting out of the blazer and grabbing her phone. She had never been a particular good cook, and while she would be able to make something decent if she tried, she´d rather order some take out. It was faster and easier and she´s already had more than 3 flyers from delivery services in her letter box the day she had moved it. Amy eventually chose to simply get herself a pizza and quickly made the call before heading for the bathroom. She definitely needed to take a shower to wash the remains of the day off, she had been up since 5am after all, and a shower somehow always helped Amy relax, even if it was a short one because she had to be somewhere in time, the hot water running over her body still calmed her down and made the long day, or whatever was bugging her, seem to disappear.

This time, something was different though. Amy had been so occupied with taking notes, listening and not wanting to murder Liam during the day, that she hadn´t even managed to stop and think for a second, but now that she was all by herself, the Brunette from this morning came back to Amy´s mind. It was as sudden as it was surprising. When Amy closed her eyes, to make sure she wouldn´t get any water into them, the sparkling green eyes appeared in front of her and Amy shivered involuntarily. She wasn´t sure why that face was coming back to her at this moment, but it seemed even more beautiful to her now. Amy felt her tongue dart out and lick over her lips as she tried to recall the Brunette´s voice, and while she hadn´t said much, Amy could still feel her skin break out into goose bumps. Without even wanting to, Amy eventually imagined the Brunette saying her name, and it worked surprisingly well to say the least. The tiles of the shower were cold against her back, but the rest of her body felt like it was on fire. Amy licked her lips again, letting her head fall back against the wall as she traced her hands over her stomach and further upwards, cupping her breast and letting out a soft moan, the picture of the Brunette and her sparkling green eyes still there, right in front of her own eyes, as she kept touching herself, trying to imagine the other woman speaking to her, maybe even urging her on. Amy let out a louder moan, the goose bumps still very present on her skin as she moved one of her hands lower and back over her stomach, feeling a tug on her stomach from the anticipation. It was just a few more inches, just a little further…but before Amy´s hand made it that far, she was pulled from her trance by the sharp ringing of her doorbell. For a moment she considered just ignoring it, but then reality hit her and Amy´s eyes grew wide. She didn´t just…no, she couldn´t…she could feel herself blush all over and quickly turned off the water and grabbed a towel as she stumbled out of the shower. For a moment the Blonde almost lost her orientation in the new apartment, but she eventually made it to the door, only opening it a crack to give the, visibly confused, delivery guy the money as she told him to just leave the pizza on the floor.

Once Amy was sure that the guy had disappeared she opened the door a little wider and got the pizza before quickly shutting the door again so there was no chance anyone could see here only wrapped into a towel. She made it to the couch somehow, where she collapsed with a loud sigh. Had she just really started touching herself imagining a girl she had seen for less than a minute?

The next sigh was even louder and Amy curled up on the couch, not really that hungry anymore. She wasn´t quite sure how long she stayed like that, but her thoughts couldn´t seem to be drawn away from the Brunette at the coffee shop. Eventually the noise from her phone brought her back to reality thought and Amy sat up, reaching for it only to find a new message.

_In fear of sounding creepy: I kinda couldn´t wait to text you. Maybe we can have lunch together tomorrow? xo Jasmine_


	3. Chapter 3

Amy felt like she hadn´t slept the whole night, which was probably true. She still couldn´t believe that she had done that. Not that masturbating was a bad thing or anything, but she usually didn´t think of a particular person while doing it, and especially not someone she hadn´t even talked to and simply run into at a coffee shop. Part of Amy was glad that she hadn´t been able to fall asleep, because she might have ended up dreaming about that girl with the sparkling green eyes and she wasn´t quite sure if she would have survived that. On the other hand she had to go through a full day of work with Liam by her side, nagging her and constantly attempting to flirt with her, which only had her rolling her eyes at him, like always.

Thankfully she managed to escape him for lunch, though she wasn’t really hungry at all. Amy was just sitting there, staring down at her salad and picking up a tomato or a piece of cucumber before letting them drop back into the bowl. She was just about to give up and get back to work, when she noticed a movement next to her and looked up.

 “You didn´t text me back,” Jasmine said with a smile as she sat down on the chair opposite of Amy´s. She didn´t seem upset or anything, but Amy immediately felt guilty. She had spent half the night trying to figure out what to text Jasmine as a response and it didn´t actually help that she wasn´t even sure if that text had been about asking her for a date or simply to hang out for lunch, and Amy didn´t know why that was even such a big deal to her. She sighed and dropped her fork, looking back at Jasmine. “Look,” she began, but the other woman cut her off.

“Don´t sweat it, Amy.” She smiled. “I simply wanted to hang out with you, because you seem cool. If I came on too strong, then I´m sorry. I might like girls, and you´re like…totally smokin´ hot, but just because I´m a lesbian doesn´t mean I can´t be friends with girls.”

Amy bit her lip and suddenly felt even worse. Why was she being so weird about this? Hanging out with Jasmine sounded nice, _Jasmine_ sounded nice, why couldn´t she just not be awkward for once?

“It´s not…I´m sorry,” Amy said in defeat and with another sigh. “You´re really cool, and nice, and I do like girls…I´m just not…I´m not a very social person, and there weren´t really many ‘out’ people in my little hometown, and then at Harvard there wasn´t really any time to date, especially when all the guys were being told off by Liam, not that I minded that…” Amy rolled her eyes. “And…I mean…how do you even find other girls that like girls? It´s not like they wear a badge or look super gay or anything…” Amy sighed again and leaned back in her chair, trying to avoid the other woman´s gaze. “Oh.” Jasmine eventually let out and then reached out to rest her hand on top of Amy´s, which eventually caused the Blonde to look up at her. “You´re new at this, right?” Jasmine then added with a soft smile. “Alright, that´s no problem, New York´s an awesome place to learn. Since this lunch date didn´t actually work out so well, I´m taking you out this weekend,” she nodded and squeezed Amy´s hand before letting go. “I know a lot of places you definitely have to see, and if I´m lucky you might develop a sense for what´s good material and then you go home with me at the end of the night,” Jasmine chuckled before getting up and giving Amy a wink. “I´ll text you,”

-

Alright, so texting with Jasmine for the second time had been a lot less awkward than she had thought it would be. After the other woman had disappeared Amy had just sat there for a while, blushing and trying to figure out what the hell she was supposed to do. That had resulted in her almost being late for work again, but thankfully she had made it just in time, even if it had been a close call.

This was new. Liking a girl, and not from afar, having a girl definitely like you back, and actually going out with that girl without having anyone judge you, it wasn´t something Amy had experienced up until now and she wasn´t quite sure how to handle it. Which was probably the reason why she was in the middle of her bedroom now, slightly panicking over what to wear. Amy felt like such a cliché, but she didn´t really go out other than to work or to grocery shop, so she was trying to decide between her favourite donut shirt and a blazer. None of those things seemed to be appropriate, even though Jasmine hadn´t even told her where they were going. It couldn´t be a restaurant, because she had promised her that she would show her “the scene” and that she wouldn´t have to worry about not recognizing the girls that were into other girls. Amy had turned those messages over and over in her head and finally decided that they would be going to some gaybar, so she wouldn´t have to worry about being too fancy, right?

 _But what if it´s a super fancy gaybar?_ A voice in her head asked and Amy shook her head, scrunching up her nose. “There´s no such thing as a ‘super fancy gaybar’…” she mumbled before finally pulling out a simple black dress from the back of her closet. It was her old Prom dress, which her mother had forced her to take with her to New York, so ‘She would have something to wear when going out,’ Of course Amy had never thought that she would actually need it, but for once she was thankful that she had listened to her mother. It was a simple dress really, short, but not too short and not too tight, but just right for her thin frame. She hadn´t went overboard with the dress back then like all the other girls, because Amy really hadn´t seen the appeal in paying a lot of money for some fancy dress that she would only wear once.

Once she was dressed and had her hair up in a bun she applied a little make up, (not too much because well, Amy had no idea what she was doing and she didn´t want to end up looking like a clown after all) and then grabbed her purse and made her way downstairs to get herself a cab. At least that was something she didn´t have any trouble with, Amy had always known how to stand her ground, so getting a cab at her first try wasn´t a problem at all, and she had to admit that she was a little proud of that. Jasmine had texted her the address of the place where they would be meeting, so she told the driver just that and then leaned back in her seat, trying not to get even more nervous than she already was.

It took her about 25 minutes to get to the meeting point, but Amy couldn´t quite tell if they were far from her place, because New York traffic was crazy and it might have been just a few blocks, really. Not that it mattered though. Amy paid the driver and then got out, looking around. Thankfully Jasmine was already there and Amy had to stop and look for a moment. The other woman looked absolutely stunning, she was wearing a simple black jeans and a wider shirt that glimmered in the light of the streetlamps. Her hair was open, completely different compared to work where she always kept it in a tight ponytail, and it was falling over her shoulders in waves. Jasmine was smiling and wrapped her arms around Amy, kissing her cheek as she reached the Blonde. “You´ve made it!” Jasmine said happily and Amy could only nod. “And you look fantastic,” she added with another smile.

“Thanks…you too.” Amy eventually managed with another nod and tried a smile herself, though she was pretty sure that Jasmine could tell how nervous she was. Thankfully the other woman didn´t say a word about it though, she simply linked her arm with Amy´s and pulled her down the street. Amy looked around, trying to figure out where they were, but it was of no use. She barely knew the way from her own apartment to work, so she was basically lost. She could tell that there were quite a lot of bars and clubs around though, so her guess from earlier couldn´t have been completely off.

She followed Jasmine, feeling a little safer with the other woman by her side. Once they had walked another block, they passed a queue outside of a club with the name _“The L Word Dance Club”_ and Amy frowned for a moment, but before she could even think properly about it, Jasmine was talking to the bouncer and Amy had something else to wonder about. The queue was rather long and there were just girls, some of them giving them looks as the bouncer nodded and let them through after a short conversation with Jasmine. Amy was pulled through the doors and then looked over at Jasmine. “Do you…come here more often?” she eventually asked but didn´t get to hear the answer, because as soon as they entered the club, Amy felt her stomach drop to her knees. She looked around, finding a bar to their right and some tables in the middle of the room, but the most distinctive thing she noticed was the big stage in the back that had a runway that went all the way into the middle of the room and had a pole at the end of it. Amy swallowed and looked over at Jasmine as two half naked women, Amy assumed that they were waitresses because they were carrying trays with them, passed them and gave them a wink. “Did you…I mean…is this…did you…did you bring me to a strip club?” Amy whispered, almost too quiet for anyone to understand over the music that was coming from the speakers, but Jasmine seemed to have understood her.

“A Lesbian Strip Club, yes. No guys, just us girls.” She said with a wink and something told her that she had known that Amy would react this way, because Jasmine stayed calm, while Amy was internally freaking out, and guided them to a table close to the stage.

Amy bit her lip as she sat down, her hands in her lap as she looked around. She wasn´t quite sure what she was supposed to feel. There were half naked girls everywhere and while she liked what she saw she still felt a little uncomfortable for a reason that was yet to be determined. “Why…didn´t you just take me to a gay bar?” she then asked, glancing over at Jasmine, who had raised her hand to call one of the waitresses over to their table.

“That would have been boring. You need to see what´s out there, this is the best strip club there is, a friend of mine is the owner, they´ve only got the finest dancers here, you´re going to love it.” Jasmine promised with a wink before she got out her wallet and paid for the two glasses of champagne the waitress had brought them. It seemed like this was either a general thing that was ordered as your first drink, or maybe it was something that Jasmine always got when she came here, but either way Amy didn’t mind. She grabbed the glass and drowned it in one go, almost coughing half of it back up because she had forgotten that champagne really wasn´t meant to be drowned like that. Amy put the glass down again quickly and was kinda glad that it was way too dark in here for anyone to see her blush.

It took her a while, and Jasmine saying “Relax, you´re fine,”´ a few times to finally look anywhere else than her own hands. It was only when a voice announced their ‘Best and most loved performer of the night’ that Amy finally found the courage to look up at the stage, but not without drinking another sip of the champagne, of which Jasmine had ordered a second round.

The music changed to something slower as the red velvet curtain moved and a young woman came out on stage, walking down the runway into the middle and stopping at the end, her hips swinging to the music as she stopped eventually, turning around and looking into the audience. And suddenly Amy regretted getting out of bed this morning because the moment the young woman turned around her eyes met with sparkling green one´s and it took all Amy had not to let her champagne glass drop to the floor.

_Oh no._


	4. Chapter 4

Amy wasn´t quite sure what she was supposed to do, but then again, there wasn´t much she was actually able to do other than gripping the edge of her seat and stare. This was her, this was the woman from the coffee shop! The one Amy hadn´t been able to stop thinking about and the woman she had imagined… _Stop it!_ A voice inside her head told her, but it was really hard not to think about that particular night when said woman was half naked and dancing around a pole like she hadn´t been doing anything else for all her life. Amy wasn´t even sure if the Brunette had recognized her though, because while their eyes locked every now and then, mainly when Amy´s side of the runway was receiving her attention, she was looking and smirking at everyone in the audience the same way, which was probably in her job description, so Amy couldn´t even blame her, but it wasn´t helping her case at all.

“Alright, I can´t tell whether you´re terrified or turned on.” A slightly amused voice pulled Amy out of her trance and she finally managed to tear her eyes away from the woman on the stage and focus them on Jasmine for a moment.

“A bit of both?” she then admitted, feeling the blush rise to her cheeks. Of course there was nothing to be ashamed of here, but this was the first time Amy wouldn´t be judged for looking at half naked women and it was definitely more than stolen glances in a girl´s locker room, but of course that would be the moment she would start blushing.

“Good, because part of me was scared you´d hate me and never talk to me again ever,” Jasmine said with a smile and Amy was quick to shake her head. Of course, this wasn´t what she had expected when Jasmine had asked her to go out, and she wasn´t quite sure how they had gone from having lunch together to visiting a strip club, but she wasn´t complaining, at least not for now.

“No…no…I´m fine. It´s fine,” she reassured the other woman before raising her hand to get one of the waitress´ attention so she could order another glass of champagne, somehow Amy was sure that she would need it. Her eyes directed back to the woman on stage, who was still dancing and smiling at everyone who had moved close enough to give a dollar, or however much money that was, Amy couldn´t really tell. In that moment an idea formed in her head though and while she was usually a thinker, or an over thinker as some people liked to call it, her brain seemed to short circuit at this moment. She fumbled for her purse and got out some money, the first note she had been able to grab really, and then moved closer to the stage. Her heart was racing and her head was a little dizzy, probably from the three glasses of champagne she´s had, but somehow Amy made it to the edge of the stage without falling over. Her eyes were watching the woman´s every move, trying to file everything away in her memory, and when she finally moved back to Amy´s side of the stage once more, their eyes locked again. Amy had never seen eyes quite like these, they were visibly darker now than they had been when they had met at the coffee shop for the first time, and this time around there was something heated in her gaze, but that bright spark, the one that had intrigued Amy so much, was still there.

The Brunette was on her knees now, crawling towards Amy, who found her hand, in which she was holding the bank note, shaking. Her tongue darted out and she licked her suddenly dry lips as the woman moved closer. Their eyes were still locked and Amy was glad that the music coming from the speakers was so loud, because she was afraid somebody could have heard how her heart was practically beating out of her chest. They were impossibly close now, or at least that was how Amy felt. She found the other woman´s gaze flicker down at the money in Amy´s hand and for a moment the Blonde thought she saw something change in the other woman´s expression, but it was too short to actually make more of it, and if Amy was being honest then she had other things to think about at the moment, because as soon as the money had been taken from her hand the smirk was back on the Brunette´s lips and she reached out to run a hand through Amy´s hair, pulling her a little closer, but not really close enough for Amy´s liking. A piece of paper, or a dollar bill for that matter, would have probably been the only thing fitting in between their lips right now, and Amy had forgotten how to breathe. Soon enough there were legs wrapping around her neck and wow where had they come from? The brunette was still smirking at her before she laid on her back, pushing her hips up a few times to the beat of the music, and then, as quickly as the legs had come, they were gone again. The woman was still there in front of her though, smirking and dancing as if Amy was the only person in the room.

The Blonde felt a shiver run down her spine and it was getting distinctively harder to breathe. She wasn´t quite sure for how long this had been going on, but eventually the Brunette gave her a wink and then moved back to the pole, where she swung around a few times before the music faded out and everyone started clapping. That was probably also what snapped Amy back into reality once more and she staggered, more than she walked, back to her table, where Jasmine was waiting.

“Well you went all out,” the other woman chuckled and Amy could only nod, she wasn´t quite trusting her voice at the moment, so instead she emptied her champagne glass and leaned back in her seat, her heart still racing. “Alright, how about we just get something to eat and then get ourselves home? I think that was more than enough for one night, and you also look like you´re about to hyperventilate every second,” Jasmine smiled and Amy nodded, even though she´d rather stay and find the Brunette. But were you even allowed to talk to strippers privately? Or did you have to wait until their shifts were over? There were too many things going on in Amy´s brain and she shook her head to get rid off them as she followed Jasmine towards the exit.

They were almost there when Amy caught a glimpse of the Brunette dancer in the back of the club though, talking to someone and once again her brain short circuited. “Hey?” she called, reaching out to stop Jasmine. “I think I forgot my phone, I´m gonna check, you can wait outside!” she told the other woman, who was giving her a criticizing look, but thankfully didn´t think too much of it, because she eventually nodded and made her way towards the exit. Amy´s heart was racing again and she tried her best not to overthink things as she strut across the room. She had reached out to tap the Brunette´s shoulder before her brain could have even thought so much as _‘Stop no, that´s a bad idea, a really bad idea,’_ and soon enough the other woman was turning around. It seemed to take her a second to realize who had tapped her shoulder, but when she did, a smile formed on her lips.

“You know, you could have gotten a private dance for that hundred dollar note,” she said with a grin and Amy furrowed her brows. She was about to ask what the other woman meant when her brain seemed to, at least once tonight, function properly. She hadn´t paid attention to what kind of bank note she had given the Brunette earlier, but this definitely explained the change in her look and the special attention Amy had gotten. _Damn it._

“I´m Amy,” she managed to say, surprised that she hadn´t blurted out anything weird, especially with how her brain didn´t seem to function right today. Those hundred dollars had definitely not been for getting special attention from a hot stripper, not that Amy was complaining, but now the mirror she had been wanting to buy had to wait another while. If they still had it then, those were special and handmade and…all of that didn´t matter at all right now.

“Amy? That´s a cute name, I´m Karma.” The Brunette, _Karma,_ smiled.

“Is that your stripper name?” Amy asked before she could even stop herself and immediately felt a blush rise to her cheeks. Thankfully the other woman didn´t seem to be offended or anything, she simply gave Amy another smile.

“Believe it or not, it´s my actual name.” she then laughed. “Long story short: My parents are very spiritual, my brother is named Zen,” she stopped, still looking at the other girl. She wasn´t even sure why she had just told a random stranger about her family, but maybe it was because people in here usually didn’t care. “Uhm…well, anyway. It´s the perfect stripper name, people never guess it´s my real name. And that way I at least didn´t have to use the street I grew up on and the name of the first pet I´ve ever had, which would have been awkward because the first hamster I ever had died in a…tragic accident,”

Amy couldn´t help but smile at Karma´s words and maybe the other woman´s laugh was a little infecting, who knew. She was about to say something in return when she remembered that Jasmine was outside waiting for her and Amy didn´t really want her to come back inside and find out that she had been lying about her phone. One awkward talk with her colleague had been more than enough.

“Uhm so…I gotta go,” she eventually said, biting her lip and looking at Karma.

“Really? That´s sad, but you can always come back right?” the Brunette asked in return before giving Amy a wink. “I know I´ll be here,” their shoulders brushed as Karma passed her and Amy stood there for a moment longer, knowing that she was completely and utterly screwed.


	5. Chapter 5

Amy didn´t sleep at all that night and really, who was blaming her? She would have probably dreamed about Karma, and while it wouldn´t have been too different from having that scene from the club repeating in her head constantly, this way around she could at least do something to distract herself instead of letting her mind spin completely out of control. She felt like she physically needed to be close to Karma though, she needed to see those sparkling green eyes and watch the other woman move, it was something Amy had never felt and frankly it scared the shit out of her. She wasn´t even sure when she would be able to go to the strip club again. She couldn´t just ask Jasmine to get her in again, because that would have been as asshole move. ‘Hey, there´s this stripper I really like and she´s really hot, would you mind putting me on the guest list again?’ Amy shuddered at the thought. But she also didn´t want to get into that, what had seemed like an endless line, in front of the door, so basically she was screwed.

At about 5am an idea settled into Amy´s mind though and she got dressed really quickly before grabbing her purse and heading out of the door before she could change her mind. Starbucks wasn´t too crowded, but there was a fair share of people standing in line to get their morning coffee and a few had even sat down at the tables. Amy got herself a black coffee and sat down at one of the tables in the back, her eyes on the door. She knew that chances were low, and she had honestly went out on a whim here, but this was where she had met Karma for the first time, and if Amy remembered correctly then the other woman had said something about ‘a long shift’ so she supposed that Karma came her after her shifts at the club had ended. Suddenly Amy felt a bit like a stalker. What was she even going to say to Karma? She hadn´t even thought of an explanation for her being here and she had never really been the best at lying. Amy sighed and took a sip of her coffee, scrunching up her face. She hated black coffee, but she had felt like she would need one after that night, especially since she hadn´t slept yet. She put the cup back down with another sigh, she still hadn´t come up with a plausible story, but before Amy could even begin to actually start thinking about something, the door opened and Karma walked in.

It felt like Amy´s heart stopped for a moment and when it resumed its activity, it was beating twice as fast. _Fuck._

She was wearing her normal clothes now, of course, and there was distinctively less make up on her face, but that didn´t make her any less beautiful. Amy was stunned for a moment, watching as Karma moved forward in line. It took about a second after that before Amy was up from her seat and walking over to the counter to get in line behind the other woman. (No she hadn´t been thinking about what to say, because that would have required thinking about actually talking to her and then Amy wouldn´t have moved at all, thank you very much)

Once Karma had ordered she turned around and Amy was faced with those sparkling green eyes again, the eyes that had taken her breath away more times than she would like to admit. They almost collided once more, but Karma managed to stop herself just about an inch from Amy. “I´m sorry…Amy?” she then asked and Amy´s heart skipped a beat.

_She remembers my name._

“I…yeah. Hi.” She managed eventually, taking a step back because wow, they were standing way too close and on top of that they were blocking the way to the counter.

“I didn´t think I´d see you again this fast, you stalking me?” Karma said in a teasing tone and Amy was more than glad that the other woman couldn´t read her mind.

“Me? Stalking. Noooooo.” She quickly managed to reply. “I´m…on my way to work, actually. I always come here to get my coffee and then I walk to work. It´s very…refreshing.”

 _What the hell are you even talking about?_ Amy thought, trying her best to maintain the smile on her face. This wasn´t going according to plan, not at all, but then again: had there ever really been a plan at all?

“You work on Saturdays? Bummer.” Karma said, making a face before she moved a little to the side to take her coffee from the man behind the counter.

“Don´t you?” Amy asked back, furrowing her brows.   
“Yeah, but I do this for fun and I make a shit load of money, so unless you do the same I´d say I´m better off,” Karma replied, taking a sip of her iced latté. Amy just nodded and moved to the side with the other woman so they wouldn´t be blocking the way. She had never even thought about why Karma was a stripper in the first place. Amy figured she had let the old cliché of someone not having enough money to make it and working as a stripper to get by get the better of her. She felt like it was way too early to ask Karma for the real reason though, so she stayed silent. That wasn´t the best idea either though, because they didn´t really have much to talk about in the first place, but now they were just standing in the middle of a Starbucks, simply looking at each other, and Amy was pretty sure that it was about to turn awkward.

“So…you liked the show last night?” Karma then asked with a small smile and for a moment Amy thought that she knew exactly what kind of effect she had on people, and especially on Amy. She still nodded though.

“Yeah…yeah it was cool. I mean…a cool show. You have a great way of moving…and all that.” Amy said, biting her lip as she tried to fight off the blush that was threatening to creep up on her cheeks.

“Ah well then I´m doing my job right,” Karma said with a laugh. “Look, how about you give me your number and I´ll text you when I´ve got a shift? Then you can come by and maybe I can give you that private dance you deserve for the hundred dollars you gave me,” Karma smirked, holding out her hand and Amy was pretty sure she had never fumbled for her phone that fast. Once the number had been typed in, Karma handed it back and then gave Amy another smile. “Alright, cool. I´ll see you around then, hopefully soon.” The Brunette gave Amy a last wink before disappearing, leaving Amy to stand in the middle of the Starbucks.

Wow, this really had to stop.

-

The first text came on Sunday night, which was a good thing, because otherwise Amy would have probably gone insane. Whenever her phone had beeped, whether it had been Jasmine or Liam, she had jumped and practically been at the phone within seconds, no matter where in her apartment she had been at that time. That had resulted in a few bruised from running into furniture and a broken vase, which she had gotten from her mother, not that Amy would miss it, but still.

_From: **Karma** , 11.45pm_

_Do you like Lollipops?_

Amy frowned and read over the message again. What on earth did lollipops have to do with her coming to the club?

_From: **Amy,** 11.47pm_

_Uhm….I guess? They can be kind of gross though when you think about the fact that we´re practically swallowing our own saliva._

_From: **Karma** , 11.48pm_

_Ewwwwww omg! >___<_

_From: **Amy** , 11.49pm_

_I´m sorry!_

Amy texted back quickly. She wasn´t even sure where that had come from and she really just wanted to slap herself for actually sending that message out.

_From: **Amy** , 11.50pm_

_Why did you ask anyway?_

_From: **Karma** , 11.51pm_

_You better be. I´ve got this outfit for the stage, it´s kinda…candy themed? And jeez the women are crazy about it and I bet the men are too, and I just can´t understand why. Thought I´d ask if you knew the answer._

An image was starting to form in Amy´s mind and she had to swallow. She knew exactly why people liked it so much, but it probably had less to do with the outfit and more with the person wearing it, because Amy thought that Karma could probably wear anything and still look insanely hot.

_From: **Amy** , 11.55pm_

_I don´t know. It probably looks good and people are kind of into this whole school girl fantasy, you know? Like, Brittany Spears in Hit Me Baby One More Time?_

Amy felt like she really needed to stop talking and thinking about those things, because otherwise she would be having another sleepless nights and she really couldn´t afford that, especially not with work in the morning.

_From: **Karma** , 11.56pm_

_Ahh right. Didn´t think about that. Anyway, I´m not really taking any shift this week because I have boring stuff to do, but that´ll be over after Friday. So…if you wanna come by the club then, I´ll be there. ;)_

_From: **Amy** , 11.58pm_

_Yeah, sure. Sounds cool. I´ll see you then!_

How the hell was she supposed to wait a whole week?


	6. Chapter 6

There had been a few text messages sent back and forth between Amy and Karma during the week, but Amy wasn´t quite sure whether it was for better or for worse. She didn´t know what she had done if she hadn´t gotten Karma´s number, would Amy have gone to the club herself to see the other woman? Maybe, but Karma wasn´t even working this week, so Amy would have been in a strip club, all by herself, for nothing. _Awkward._ At the same time it felt like torture to Amy to be able to communicate with Karma and yet to not be able to see her or hear her voice. Sometimes she felt a little pathetic, because they had seen each other briefly three times and it wasn´t like they were dating, or even thinking about that, but Amy still felt a little agitated thorough the whole week. And then there was the fact that she had absolutely no idea how to deal with Jasmine. The other woman had taken her to a strip club and they were still having lunch together every day, but Amy didn´t know if Jasmine expected something of her, should she ask her out on a date? Amy had never really been anyone´s object of affection, except for Liam´s, but that was a completely different story. So instead of talking about important things (at least Amy figured that they were important) they kept talking about work and the weather, which made her feel even more pathetic on top of everything else.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, staring at the files that were piling up on her desk. It felt like work had gotten even more stressful this second week and while Amy was rather organized she had to admit that this whole thing with Karma had thrown her off track a little.

“Who are you dreaming off?” A voice then pulled her from her thoughts and Amy looked up to find Liam leaning against her desk, smirking. “No, don´t tell me, let me keep the illusion that it was me,” he grinned and Amy just rolled her eyes. She had thought that she would get away without talking to him too much this week, since everyone had been really busy and she spent her lunches with Jasmine, but apparently he had either managed to get all his work done or snuck away from his desk, because even with being the son of the firm owner, Liam didn´t get away with slacking.

“I won´t say anything then, can´t have you moping around all day,” Amy eventually replied, looking up at Liam, whose smirk didn´t waver one bit.

“Are you coming to the office party on Friday?” he asked instead and Amy could barely suppress another sigh. She had almost forgotten about that. The firm had a couple of office parties a year and this one was held especially for the new lawyers to meet everyone formally, even some of the clients who were important, and usually it was held during the first week, but the last two weeks had been incredibly busy, so they had changed the date to this Friday. Amy didn´t want to go, she didn´t want to dress up and smile and play pretend all evening when she´d rather spend her time sitting on the couch and watching Netflix, but she knew that it was important to present yourself well to the clients, and to represent your firm, so the attendance really wasn´t optional.

“Of course I´m coming,” she then said, rolling her eyes once more. “What, were you thinking of skipping town?” she asked jokingly and Liam just shrugged his shoulders.

“Would you come?” that question left Amy speechless for a moment. It didn´t sound like he was joking at all and she couldn´t imagine why. Liam was charming, and the owner´s son, he would be everybody´s darling within the first few seconds of the party, while Amy…she didn´t even want to think about it, but that wasn´t Liam´s problem at all, so she couldn´t possibly think of a reason why he didn´t want to go.

“Well if you don´t let me work in peace then I might not be able to make it to the party, because I´ll be buried in a pile of files,” she then said, going for joking but probably sounding a lot more pathetic than she had intended to.

“Well I wouldn´t want that,” Liam replied and his smirk was back in place, almost as if nothing had happened. “I´ll see you on Friday then,” he gave Amy a wink, who was too confused to even roll her eyes at him. She had no idea what that had been, and why Liam wouldn´t want to go to that party, but then again: It wasn´t really any of her business. She had her own problems concerning the party and somehow Amy felt like Liam would just be his usual charming self at the party, and whatever worries he´d been having would be wiped away in an instant. Amy sighed and then directed her attention back on the pile on her desk, as much as she would love to use it as an excuse to skip the party, that would probably look like she had been slacking on the work and she would miss meeting all those important clients they had been told about, so instead she took the file on top and opened it so she could go back to work.

-

The first problem that presented itself to Amy on Friday was the way she was supposed to dress. She had never really been someone that dressed up much, unless she had to, and then it had usually been her mother than had given her a dress so she wouldn´t have to deal with the comments of her relatives about what the hell her daughter was wearing. Amy knew that she was supposed to dress up a little, but that she wasn’t supposed to come in her work outfit, apparently that wasn’t fancy enough, the women were supposed to _‘show off what they´ve got’_ or some bullshit and Amy honestly wasn´t impressed. In her slight panic she had called Jasmine though and the other woman had promised to come over and to help her.

It had proven to still be a rather difficult to find something to wear that was appropriate and that didn´t make Amy want to crawl out of her own skin. Eventually they decided on the dark green dress from the back of Amy´s closet, the color made her eyes stand out (or at least that was what Jasmine had said) and while it was still stylish it wasn´t too short for anyone to complain, but still nice enough so people would turn their heads. Those were Jasmine´s words as well, but Amy wasn´t going to protest, not when she was finally dressed and good to go. She still wasn´t jumping up and down with excitement, which probably would have been a bad idea anyway, but she had made it through to many awkward social gathering without backing down, so this was just another one of those nights where she smiled politely and talked about how much she loved working in this place, how high her ambitions were, and at the end of the night she would get to go home and watch Netflix.

There were already quite a few people at the office, chatting with each other and eating the snacks that were served by well-dressed waiters on small, silver platters.

“Breathe,” Jasmine reminded her with a smile and Amy just nodded, trying not to let it show that she had actually been holding her breath, even if it hadn´t been on purpose.

“Alright, I´m just…going to get us something to drink,” Amy then decided, after all the champagne had helped her loosen up at the strip club as well and she was trusting Jasmine to not let her get too wasted or to let Amy embarrass herself in front of her boss or any of the clients.

She moved through the crowd, stopping one of the waiters, who was carrying a tray with champagne glasses on it, taking one of them and holding it in one hand before reaching for another one. It was the last one on the tray and before Amy had even realized it, there was another hand on the glass. “Look, I´m sorry but I really need this,” A voice, which belonged to the person whose hand was holding onto the glass, said and Amy looked up. She had recognized the voice before she had even seen Karma, and yet she couldn´t help but stare at the other woman.

“Karma?”

“Amy?”

Amy blinked a few times and Karma seemed to be just as surprised to see the other woman here. This was about the last place Amy had expected to see Karma, especially since she had told her she would have some boring things to do this week. Not that Amy thought that this party wasn´t boring, but she hadn´t expected someone like Karma to be here. She obviously didn´t work here, and she couldn´t be a client, right? Amy furrowed her brows and eventually let go off the champagne glass, leaving it to the other woman. Karma downed it in almost one go and then looked over at Amy.

“So…you work here?” she then asked, and despite the weirdness of their meeting, Amy was glad to hear the other woman´s voice again. It made her stomach flutter and Amy couldn´t help the little smile that was tugging on the corners of her lips.  She was just about to tell Karma that, yes, she indeed worked for this firm, that she was a lawyer who was planning to be a big shot in this city one day, but she didn´t even get the first word out, because her boss had made his way through the crowd and stopped next to them.  
“Amy!” he called out with a smile. “I see you´ve met Karma,” he looked over at the other woman. “I´ve always told her it would be great for her to make friends with Liam´s colleagues and work friends, and you two seem to be going along great already,”  
“I´m sorry?” Amy asked, a little confused, and then was, once again, stopped from saying or asking anything as Liam joined them as well.

“Karma, Amy.” He managed as suddenly that look from a few days ago was back on his face, the look he had gotten when they had talked about the party. Amy furrowed her brows once more and looked over at Liam, silently demanding an explanation from him. Liam bit his lip and looked over at Karma and his father, before returning his attention to Amy. “Amy…meet Karma, my…girlfriend.”


	7. Chapter 7

For a moment Amy was pretty sure that she had gotten something wrong here. Since when did Liam have a girlfriend? She knew that he could be a douchebag sometimes, but flirting with other women while he had a girlfriend seemed like an asshole move even Liam wasn´t capable of. Plus, did Liam know that his girlfriend was an exotic dancer in a lesbian strip club? Sure, Amy had just assumed that Karma was gay, but now a thought began dawning on her and she wanted to smack herself over the head.

 _Just because you play a gay character doesn´t mean you have to be gay,_ she thought. _So dancing in a gay strip club doesn´t automatically make you gay,_

It took Amy a moment to realize that they were all staring at each other and that things were about to get awkward and she really couldn´t afford that, not in front of her boss, because the last thing Amy wanted was to jeopardize her job over something as stupid like this.

“Yes, I´ve just met her. We´ve had a little banter over the last glass of champagne,” Karma suddenly said with a smile as she looked back and forth between Amy, Liam and Liam´s father, who still seemed to be a little sceptical, but it didn´t seem like he wanted to discuss what was bugging him right here in front of everyone, so instead he just smiled back at Karma.

“Well, you shouldn´t worry about that,” he then said, “There´s plenty of champagne for everyone here and that´s really not a thing you should be fighting about, you should just…enjoy the party,” And with that he turned around gracefully and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Karma, Amy and Liam standing in the middle of the room, staring at each other. Amy was still trying to get some sense into her thoughts, because none of this was adding up and she was slowly realizing that the only guy who had ever shown any interest in her at all had a girlfriend, who had turned out to be the stripper she was having a crush on.

“How fucked up can this get?” Amy mumbled to herself as she felt her stomach tying up in knots. This couldn´t be true, New York was supposed to be a new start for and not something that would fuck her life up even more. “I…I gotta go,” she then said, looking around and then simply deciding on emptying the champagne glass in one sip and then shoving it into Liam´s hands before taking off towards the elevator. She hadn´t represented her firm properly and she hadn´t met any of the important clients, but Amy was pretty sure that she wasn´t in the right state of mind to leave a good impression either, all she wanted was to get away from this place to sort out her thoughts.

She made it as far as the elevator when she felt someone grab her arm and yank her back. “What the fuck?” Amy let out, a little louder than intended, as she swirled around and was faced with Liam once again.

“What do you want?” she almost spat out then, not even sure why she was so upset with him, it wasn´t like she actually liked him that way, but it still hurt.

“I told you we should have skipped town instead of going to this party,” Liam then said and somehow there was something like honest regret on his face.

“I don´t give a fuck about this party, you have a girlfriend?” Amy shot back, trying to free herself from Liam´s grip, but it didn´t seem like he was going to let her go any time soon, which only made her angrier. “How long? And why the fuck would you think that it´s a good idea to flirt with other girls, or even go out with them, I don´t know what the hell you do in your free time, when you have a girlfriend?”  
Liam sighed, glancing down at the floor before he spoke. “Look…Karma…she´s a nice girl,” he then said, biting his lip, “Our parents have been friends forever and somehow they thought it was a good idea if we got married. I admit that I was attracted to her during High School, that´s what sparked this mess. They thought we were perfect for each other and my Dad said she´d make a great wife someday, and Karma…she wants to be a singer, she wants to be on Broadway, and without her parents money she couldn´t afford school so we pretended to be a couple all through college, but things are just…getting out of hand now that college is over…Amy, you have to believe me that I have no intention of marrying her,” Liam was almost pleading, something Amy had never seen him do, and she couldn´t help but bite her own lip as they stared at each other for a moment.

The _ding_ of the elevator pulled them out of their trance eventually though and for a moment Liam wasn´t paying attention and loosened his grip, so Amy could free herself and step into the elevator. She had absolutely no idea what to say or to do, but she knew that she had to get away from this place before she did something stupid like yelling at Liam even more or to start crying. Amy could feel her stomach twisting up into even more knots, almost to the point where she was feeling sick, when she pressed the button to take her to the ground floor. For a split second she didn´t pay attention to Liam then, which was taken as a chance by Liam, his only one maybe, so he launched himself forward, pressing his lips against Amy´s, who stood there, almost paralysed.

She had no idea what was happening, but this was batshit crazy, she didn´t want to be kissing Liam, if anything she would have wanted this to be Karma, and if Liam´s Dad saw them like this, for whatever reason, she would probably be fired on the spot. Amy was trying not to completely freak out, but she was utterly and completely failing, she barely managed to lift her hands and push Liam away and out of the elevator before the doors shut, leaving both of them standing on the spot.

“Fuck fuck fuck…” Amy mumbled as the elevator began moving and she could feel her eyes filling with tears. She had no legit reason to be upset over any of this, she wasn’t dating Karma or Liam, she wasn´t dating anybody at all and that would probably never change, something that was just the tip of the iceberg making her feel like complete and utter shit.

When the elevator reached the ground floor, Amy stumbled out more than she walked, wiping her eyes so her vision wouldn´t be too blurred to even see straight. She could  imagine herself running into something and falling over, making this day worse than it already was, even though she wasn´t quite sure how that was even possible. At first she didn´t even notice her phone ringing in her purse, but when it rang for the third time she finally pulled it out, ready to turn it off because she assumed that it was Liam, but when Amy caught sight of the display it showed Jasmine´s name and she felt another tug on her stomach.

Amy took the call, her fingers shaking, as she lifted the phone to her ear. “Y-Yeah?” she mumbled, feeling even more stupid for standing on the middle of the sidewalk, crying and not knowing what to do.

“Amy? Are you okay? I saw you storming off after talking to Liam and his Dad…” Jasmine said quietly and even she would have to notice the change in Amy´s voice and the quiet sobs the Blonde was trying to suppress.

“I…no I´m just…” she was trying her best to keep her composure and to pretend like she was fine, or maybe just feeling sick and wanted to go lay down, which wasn´t even a lie, but even Amy could tell that Jasmine would see right through that, so it was of no use, really. “I don´t know, no.” she eventually managed to say and suddenly someone was calling her name, no… _Jasmine_ was calling her name, and Amy turned around, almost dropping her phone in the process. The other woman had just passed through the sliding doors of the building and was now standing on the sidewalk as well, a few feet away from Amy.  Amy had to wipe her eyes and was just standing there for a moment as she watched Jasmine move closer to her. She wanted to explain what had happened, tell Jasmine that she was probably overreacting and that the other woman should just slap some sense into her and then they should get back to the party, but Jasmine had actually come after her all the way because she cared, even if she wasn´t involved in all of this mess, and Amy had treated her and her interest in her like complete and utter shit, a realization that hit her even harder and was the reason more tears were spilling from Amy´s eyes.  
“Hey…shh…” Jasmine mumbled, reaching out and touching Amy´s shoulder gently, not quite sure what had happened, but the other woman looked like a mess and she hadn´t really seen Amy lose her composure yet, her friend usually had everything under control, at least when it came to work related things.

“I…I´m…” Amy started and then trailed off with a sob, biting her lip. She could still feel Liam´s lips on hers and that made her shiver, but not in a good way. She wiped at her eyes again, feeling the warm press of Jasmine´s hand on her shoulder and when she looked up at the other woman, Amy caught sight of the other´s lips and she knew that this was probably going to go down into history as one of the worst ideas she´s ever had, but she couldn´t stop herself from leaning forward and pressing her lips against Jasmine´s. The other woman seemed to be surprised, because that was really the last thing you expected from a crying mess of a person, but she didn´t stand still and paralysed like Amy had done when Liam had kissed her, instead she wrapped her arms around the Blonde and began kissing her back.

Amy wasn’t sure how to feel or what to do, but anything was better than staying here where she could be in danger of seeing Karma or Liam, or worse: both of them at the same time, again anytime soon, so she just wrapped her arms around Jasmine and whispered against the other woman´s lips.

“Come home with me?” And there wasn´t even a moment of resistance.


	8. Chapter 8

The moment the question was out, Amy´s mind had started worrying about what a stupid idea this had been and that she wouldn´t even want to kiss and take Jasmine home as soon as they were in the cab, but then she thought back on Liam and Karma and her own disappearance from the party, and the fact that Karma hadn´t even made an attempt to follow her. Of course it was stupid, they were barely even friends, and just because Amy couldn´t get those sparkling green eyes out of her head didn´t mean that Karma even remotely felt the same way. All those things were spiralling in her head and making it spin, so when Jasmine simply replied with a quiet ‘yes’ against her lips, it felt like everything vanished within an instant. Karma. Liam. The party. The fact that this was probably just a poor attempt to not be reminded of any of those things. Amy knew that she would hate herself for proposing this later, but it felt like her body was acting on its own accord now, not even giving her the chance to open her mouth and clarify her mistake.

They were in the cab in an instant, and to make sure she wouldn´t even think about changing her mind, Amy leaned over and pressed her lips against Jasmine´s again. Of course she expected the other woman to protest, because this was still rather public, and she figured that the cab driver probably wasn´t as thrilled about it either, something Amy wouldn´t be either if she was being honest, but Jasmine just wrapped her arms around Amy´s waist and pulled her close while they kissed.

It was frantic and Amy felt more than a teenager than she probably ever had, but it was nice, nice because she didn´t have to worry about anything, or at least the way Jasmine was holding on to her and running her tongue over Amy´s lips to get permission to push her tongue inside, didn´t leave any room to worry at all.

Later, Amy didn’t even remember when she had told the driver her address, but she figured that she must have done it at some point, because they eventually ended up right in front of her building, and after paying they stumbled their way up to Amy´s apartment, still kissing. It felt like a completely new experience to Amy. Not that she was still a virgin, at least not when it came to sex. Sure, she hadn´t slept with a girl before, but there was a first time for everything, right? And she had always been busy with studying, so the only experience with stumbling into a room kissing had been when her college roommate had done so on various occasions, leaving Amy annoyed and unable to go back to sleep again.

This was different though. Well, it obviously was, but it was nice to not care about anything for once, even if it was just for a moment. Part of her knew that this was a terrible idea, but the other part, the much bigger one, was telling her to stop thinking and to just go with it. For the longest time Amy had held on to the thought that your first time was supposed to be with someone you truly loved. Maybe that had just been a thought she had been holding on to because she hadn´t exactly been a people´s person, and still wasn´t, and nobody had even been remotely interested in her, so she had kept on telling herself that The One would show up eventually and love her unconditionally and when he did, then she would be ready.

Years had passed with that thought in the back of her mind though, and when someone, Amy´s first and only boyfriend, had come along she had just made herself believe that he was The One she had always been dreaming of. It hadn´t been as spectacular as she had thought it would be, but then again she had noticed that she was more interested in girls anyway, so that might have been the main reason.

Once they had reached the apartment, Amy fumbled for the keys in her handbag, barely even managing to get them into the lock, but when she finally did they stumbled into the apartment and Amy ran straight into the edge of the small table that was next to them, making her jolt in pain. Part of her was worried that she had just ruined the mood, because fucking hell that hurt! And because Jasmine was looking at her with a slightly worried expression on her face. It only lasted a moment though, because soon enough they were both bursting out into laughter. It probably wasn´t the best reaction, but it somehow made Amy feel like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“You okay?” Jasmine eventually asked when they had calmed down a little and Amy just nodded, her eyes locking with the other woman´s for the first time ever since they had gotten in the cab. For a moment they didn´t say a word and Amy´s tongue darted out to lick her lips, which were sore from kissing non-stop.  “This…is a bad idea, isn´t it?” Jasmine eventually said and Amy couldn´t quite decide what to make of her expression. It wasn´t an angry one, that was for sure, if anything then she looked slightly disappointed, but even that was something that Amy didn´t want. Jasmine was one of the nicest people she had ever met, someone that wanted to be her friend even after all the shit she had already pulled on her. Amy swallowed and bit her lip before she moved closer to the other woman, tucking a strand of hair behind Jasmine´s ear. Silence was falling over them again, but this time it wasn´t awkward or anything, it simply meant that there were no words needed and Amy proved just that when she leaned in for another kiss.

-

A couple of blocks uptown, Karma had stormed after Liam, who was still standing in front of the elevator, almost paralysed.   
“What the hell was that?” she demanded, shoving at her boyfriend´s shoulder. _Boyfriend._ She didn´t like the word, especially not in connection with Liam, but both her and his parents had used it more than enough to make sure Karma couldn´t get it out of her head. It wasn´t like she hated Liam, he was a decent guy, otherwise she wouldn´t have dated him, but that was in the past and usually she did everything these days to avoid him.

The shove brought Liam back from his trance though and he turned around, facing Karma. “I´m…sorry,” he immediately said and the utter look of distress on his face somewhat took the blow out of Karma´s anger. She sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Is Amy…the girl you keep telling me about since we´ve started college?” she eventually asked with a sigh. Despite this whole mess Liam and her were still friends and while Karma had no use for all his stories about the girls he´s been out on dates with, she did know about the girl who had repeatedly turned him down. She had never thought that it would be Amy though, and part of Karma felt bad for Liam, because considering the fact that she had met Amy at a lesbian strip club she was pretty sure that she knew the reason why the Blonde kept turning him down. Part of her was glad about that too, though, but Karma couldn´t quite say why yet. Amy was a nice girl, at least from what she had gathered from their meetings and their texts, but Liam was a nice guy at heart too and Karma wasn´t interested in him anymore.

_So why would I care?_

Liam had only nodded in response before running a hand through his hair and making a frustrated noise. “I just…I thought we could figure this out,” he gestured between them, “Before she finds out about anything but I guess I fucked up,” he really looked miserable and Karma assumed that his mood was rubbing off on her, because she was beginning to feel her stomach tying up in knots and she couldn´t figure out why. She hadn´t done anything wrong, Liam´s fuck ups weren´t her fault, right? But her brain was slowly catching up with the fact that maybe Amy wasn´t a lesbian, maybe she liked guys as well, and if she did, then maybe she did like Liam and had always turned him down because of his history with women and being a huge flirt, she must have noticed it at college, and Karma had just proved her right. Granted, they hadn´t known each other for a long time, but she never ever wanted to be the reason for Amy to hurt.

Karma swallowed and looked over at Liam, both of them suddenly at a loss of words. How was it that, when they fucked up, they always did it together? Karma shook her head and quickly fumbled for her phone in her purse. She pulled it out, her fingers shaking as she dialled Amy´s number. It was more than obvious that the Blonde wouldn´t answer the phone if Liam had called her, but Karma was still having the slightest hope that Amy wasn´t as pissed off at her than she was at Liam.

Her eyes found Liam´s again just a moment later, who was looking at her expectantly, and it was as if, with every waiting signal on the other end of the line, Karma´s heartbeat was accelerating. Liam was looking almost desperate now and Karama suspected that this feeling was rubbing off on her once again.

The call went to voicemail eventually and Karma could feel a tug on her stomach as she looked at the display for a second and then immediately tried dialling the number again, unaware that Amy was too busy to even think about answering her phone.


	9. Chapter 9

Amy had lost track of time, which was mainly Jasmine´s fault. If she´d been having any doubts about this before the other woman had certainly known how to completely erase them from Amy´s mind as soon as they had made it to the bedroom. Technically it was way too hot to move around like that, or to move at all, but it didn´t matter, not when Amy had momentarily forgotten her own name is the process of moaning Jasmine´s. Now they were done though, silence was falling over the bedroom and Amy prayed, to whoever was listening, that things wouldn´t get awkward. She liked Jasmine, and she thought the other woman was attractive, but she wasn´t sure if a relationship was what she wanted, at least not after this whole drama with Karma and Liam.

“I should probably go,” Jasmine´s voice brought Amy back and she turned over onto her side, facing Jasmine.

“You don´t have to,” she then tried weakly, because she didn´t want to make things awkward, but she also had the feeling that it would get awkward if Jasmine stayed, apparently this was a lose-lose situation and there was nothing Amy could do about it.

“It´s alright,” Jasmine eventually said and, to Amy´s surprise, she was smiling. “I don´t want to overstay my welcome, and I trust you to call me.” She moved herself into a sitting position and then swung her legs out of bed. “And if not, then I´ll see you on Monday at work,” Jasmine was still smiling as she gathered her clothes to get dressed and Amy cursed herself, but she just couldn´t look away. It would have been stupid anyway, considering what they had just done, but still.

“I´ll talk to you later then,” Jasmine eventually smiled and Amy was about to get out of bed, to at least walk her to the door, when the other woman moved around the bed and pressed a kiss to Amy´s head before disappearing and for a moment Amy just sat there, staring, as the bedroom door closed.

-

She still hadn´t quite realized what had happened within the last hour, and she could still feel her skin tingling at the simple thought of it, but Amy had decided that she would at least have to take a shower, so she eventually got out of bed and rushed over to the bathroom. She didn´t quite make it into the shower though, because as soon as she was about to turn it on, the door bell rang.

The Blonde furrowed her brows and then reached for a towel, wrapping it around herself. “She must have forgotten something…” Amy muttered before moving over to the door an opening.

“Hey did you…Karma?” Amy felt her heart stop for a moment when she found the Brunette staring at her instead of Jasmine. There was no way Karma could have known where Amy lived, but that wasn´t what came to Amy´s mind when she saw the other woman standing there, a somewhat apologetic look on her face.

“Don´t be mad,” Karma said, taking a few steps into the apartment without even being asked to. Amy was too confused to complain though so she just let the door fall shut and followed the other woman over into the living room.

“I…Karma, what are you doing here?” An hour ago Karma following her would have been all Amy wanted, still for someone unknown reason though, but now that the Brunette was really there, Amy had no idea what to do.

“I´m sorry for barging in like that,” Karma apologized with a sigh. “But after you stormed off Liam went and got your personal file so we could get your address and then he realized you wouldn´t open the door for him, so I had to go, even though this wasn´t technically my fault,” she sighed. “But you´re a nice girl and…Liam and me, that was over a long time ago,” Karma bit her lip as she looked over at Amy. She wasn´t even sure why she was the one apologizing here, because she hadn´t done anything wrong, and she still wasn´t convinced that Amy and Liam were such a great couple, but if this was her chance to get out of the relationship with Liam without losing her parents support, then she was going to do it. She looked back at Amy, ready to apologize again, if she needed to, when Karma suddenly raised an eyebrow.

“You´re not…I mean…you´re only wearing a towel.” She then said and Amy looked down on herself, her eyes growing wide.

“I…uhm…I was about to…shower.” She muttered, not sure why she was suddenly blushing, because that wasn´t a lie and it wasn´t like Karma would be able to see any of her private parts.

 _You have also seen her in much less than what you´re wearing right now,_  That thought hadn´t been the best idea though, because suddenly Amy felt a tug on her stomach and she was pretty sure that she was blushing even harder right now.

“I could…I mean, you could go change…but you don´t have to.” Karma eventually muttered. “I just…I just wanted you to know that, if you want him, Liam is yours. It´s…”  
“Wait.” Amy interrupted her. “Whoever said that I wanted Liam?” Karma raised an eyebrow, now looking about as confused as Amy.

“He said…he told me you were upset when you left and I figured the reason you always turned him down was because you knew his ways and that he was always flirting with other girls.”  
Amy shook her head, trying to sort out her thoughts. Did Liam really like her that much? Then why had he never seriously tried to ask her out? Or had she just never realized that he was being serious? If that was true then she figured it would have been a case of ‘Once a liar, always a liar’, but that wasn´t really helping her right now.

“I…Karma.” Amy eventually said, not quite sure where to put her hands, so she simply gestured towards the other woman. “I´m a lesbian. I´m not…I wasn´t upset because you were with Liam, but…because he was the first person who ever even remotely showed any interest in me, that was new for me, and while he was annoying I guess it was also flattering, in a really weird way, so when I heard he was in a relationship with you the entire time I just felt like…”  
“One of all the other meaningless flirts?” Karma asked and Amy bit her lip as their eyes locked.

“Yeah, like all of those other girls.” She took a deep breath and then crossed her arms in front of her chest, somehow not able to take her eyes off Karma. The other woman looked about as confused and done with this as Amy was, and yet they were just standing there, looking at each other.

Karma still looked as beautiful as ever, even if the sparkle in her eyes was gone for now, but they were still somewhat mesmerizing and Amy knew that she was completely screwed. New York was supposed to be a new start for her and not make everything worse, but here she was, in the middle of some twisted love triangle, or no, a rectangle, if she added Jasmine to the mix, and that was definitely more than Amy thought she could handle.

“So…” Karma eventually said, her tongue darting out to lick her dry lips. “Are we…cool? I mean, as cool as we can be?”

Amy, who was probably still staring at the other woman, finally snapped out of her trance and slowly nodded. “I mean…yeah. Well, I don´t know. You haven´t done anything wrong…I guess this is something Liam and I have to sort out. On top of…what you and him have to sort out,” she then said with a shrug and Karma just nodded. There was a moment of silence in which Amy wasn´t quite sure if she should fix things with Liam right now or if it was better to sleep on it and let Karma talk to him first, but it seemed like Karma had an entirely different plan, because suddenly her face lit up.

“Sit!” Karma then instructed and Amy was about to ask why the Brunette was ordering her around in her own apartment, but Karma didn´t let her. “Sit and close your eyes, and no peaking.” She then said, grabbing Amy by her arms and gently forcing her to sit down on the couch and making sure that her eyes were closed.

Amy wasn´t even quite sure why she was following these orders, and what the hell Karma was doing in the meantime, but suddenly she could hear music coming from the speakers of her sound system.

 _“I must admit, I can't explain_  
Any of these thoughts racing through my brain  
It's true but baby, I'm howlin' for you,”

“Open your eyes,” Karma´s voice was different than it had before and somehow Amy obeyed immediately. She blinked a few times and soon the other woman came into focus right in front of her. Karma was smirking as she slowly moved her hips to the music and… “Is that my trenchcoat?” Amy asked, slightly confused, but Karma just kept smirking as she pulled on the strings that were keeping the coat tied around her waist.

“I hope you don´t mind, I…borrowed it,” she then smirked and suddenly it was dawning on Amy.

_Oh._

“I still owe you that private dance, so just sit back and relax, it´ll be worth it, I promise.”


	10. Chapter 10

This was about the worst possible timing for a lap dance, but there was nothing Amy could do to stop Karma. The trench coat was loosely hanging open by now, revealing the underwear the Brunette was wearing. It wasn´t as fancy as the costumes she had seen at the strip club, but it was still pretty damn sexy and Amy was pretty sure that nobody would have been able to say no to Karma in this moment, so she simply sat there, forcing her eyes to actually look up at the Brunette so she wouldn´t constantly stare at the half naked body in front of her.

“I take this as a yes?” Karma smirked as she kept moving her hips to the music coming from the speakers and Amy simply nodded. There was a faint voice, somewhere in her head, telling her that this was completely wrong and unfair to Jasmine, but it wasn´t strong enough to snap Amy from her trance. She blinked, her eyes meeting with Karma´s, and suddenly they were as sparkling as Amy remembered them. Any guilt or sorrow seemed to have disappeared and instead there was something else, something…teasing, fun, _lust?_ Amy couldn´t quite tell, but it didn´t matter, because here she was, receiving a private lap dance from the girl she had been crushing on, in her own apartment, and even though she would probably hate herself for this later she still couldn´t resist or even open her mouth to tell Karma to stop.

The other woman was still smirking, her eyes fixed on Amy as she danced, moving her body in a way that really should have been illegal. Amy could feel her stomach fluttering and her tongue darted out to suddenly lick her dry lips. She must have looked ridiculous, but she couldn´t quite bring herself to care in that moment. There was something mesmerizing about Karma, there always had been, from the first moment Amy had laid eyes on her she had been captured by the other woman and there was no getting around that. The truth was she would probably drop everything and go wherever Karma went if the Brunette asked her to, which was completely irrational and not something that Amy would usually do, but that just made it all the better, because she had never felt this way about anyone. She didn´t know much about Karma, besides a few things they had talked about while exchanging texts, but somehow Amy felt like this could be the real deal. Sure, she had never particularly been the romantic type, and she wasn’t quite sure if she believed in things like soul mates, but even if she didn´t before then she had to at least considering the possibility right now, because this surely wasn´t something that happened every day.

 _The connection, obviously. Not the lap dance. Well, not that I´m getting a lap dance every day either._ Amy thought and suddenly Karma was close, her legs almost touching Amy´s as she let the trench coat slide to the floor, revealing the full beauty of her body and the laced underwear she was wearing. Amy swallowed, her hands fisting in the cushions to her left and right, as she watched. Karma had an amazing body, it was slim and perfect, toned in all the right places and yet not too skinny either. Her skin looked soft and Amy had to clench her hands into fist even harder just so she wouldn´t simply reach out and touch, because that wasn´t allowed, right? Or were you allowed to touch when you had paid a hundred dollars for a dance? Amy´s mind was racing and she shook her head, looking back at Karma, whose eyes were still fixed on her.  If there had ever been any doubts that she was a lesbian, then they were most definitely erased by now. She didn´t have any desire to see Liam half naked, or any other man for that matter, while Amy was pretty sure that she could sit here and stare at Karma all day. Of course that would be inappropriate and she would probably eventually die of a heart attack or something, but at least it would have been worth it.

Getting lost in her thoughts hadn´t been a good idea, which Amy had to realize once again, because suddenly Karma was leaning over her, arms resting on the back of the couch and next to Amy´s shoulders. The music was still playing and going perfectly with the other woman´s movements. Karma was as close as she had ever been to Amy, their faces only inches apart, and suddenly it was very hard to breathe. It wasn´t like Amy had never had crushes before, but this one was taking the meaning of ‘having a crush’ to a whole new level and she hadn´t quite figured out how to deal with it yet. A second later Karma had joined her on the couch, sitting on Amy´s, lap with her legs on either sides of Amy´s thighs.

 _Well at least now it´s an actual ‘lap’ dance,_ a voice in her head said, but Amy really didn´t have time to listen, because there were too many things she had to concentrate on, and one of them was to not moan out loud when she felt Karma grind her hips down. It reminded her too much of what she had just done with Jasmine not half an hour ago, but for some reason this was so much better. She knew she should be feeling bad about it, and she probably would later on, but there was literally no room for guilt in her head right now, because everything was filled with Karma. Karma´s voice, her smell, her eyes, the way she moved her hips and how soft her skin looked. Amy wanted to touch her so badly, but she couldn´t think clearly and she didn´t want to be denied the opportunity to enjoy this a little longer just because she couldn´t keep her hands to herself.

A moment later though, as if she was able to read Amy´s mind, Karma pulled back a little and reached for the Blonde´s hands, pulling them upwards and resting them on her hips. Amy was pretty sure that she was blushing, but that wasn´t something she could waste any time on worrying about right now, not when Karma was smirking at her and moving her hips, grinding down on Amy´s lap once again.

She wasn´t quite sure how others could be completely unaffected by those lap dances, or how they had learned to just not let it show, but Amy was failing miserably at this task. Her skin felt like it was on fire and she constantly had to remind herself to breathe. Whenever she did she took in the unmistakable scent that was Karma though, and it sent a shiver down her spine, which wasn´t really helping the case.

Amy was torn between wanting to do this all day, or simply collapsing and possibly hiding under her blanket for the rest of her life. Everything was a mess, and yet here she was, enjoying a lap dance from the woman she had a crush on, and wow she really needed to think of something to cool herself off, because she could feel her grip on Karma´s hips tighten involuntarily and it was getting harder and harder to control herself. Before Jasmine Amy had never really been this close to touching a woman and yet this seemed completely different from what she had been doing with the other woman. Not that the sex with Jasmine had been bad, it had been amazing honestly, there was no denying that, but this, being close to Karma, was what Amy really wanted and it made her shiver and her skin felt like it was burning up with heat, even though they hadn´t even kissed or really touched yet. Sure, Karma was grinding down on her, but Amy had her hands on the other girl´s hips, and she was doing her best to keep them there, because this was a lap dance and not a make out session, despite how much she wanted it to be the latter.

Once again Karma seemed to be reading her thoughts though, because what happened next was something Amy wouldn´t have expected to happen in a million years. A piano could have crashed through her window right this second and it would have made more sense then what was about to happen. Amy´s hands were still on Karma´s hips while the song skipped to the next one and momentarily she wondered if the dance was over now, but suddenly Karma´s face was even closer to hers and Amy could practically feel the electricity between them. She was about to say something, to not let the situation get awkward, but then her eyes locked with Karma´s and Amy felt a shiver run through her body and before she could even do or say anything, Karma´s lips were on hers.

It took her a moment to realize what was happening, but then it hit her.   _She´s kissing me. Karma is fucking kissing me!_

And, without even thinking about it, Amy´s hands slid from the other woman´s hips up her back, pulling her close and digging her fingernails into the soft skin there now that she was finally allowed to touch, or well…she assumed that she was. Karma let out a soft moan then and Amy didn´t care anymore. She didn´t care that this wasn´t supposed to happen, or that she was making out with someone that was technically taken by someone that was apparently in love with her or that she was still simply wearing a towel which was dangerously close to slipping away and leaving Amy completely naked. Still, nothing seemed more important than Karma´s lips on hers and the other woman´s tongue slipping into her mouth as they kissed.

Amy wasn´t even sure for how long they had kissed, but something shifted then, because suddenly Karma was pulling back and when Amy tried to chase the other woman´s lips with hers she almost fell off the couch due to Karma having gotten up.

“Oh my God…” the Brunette muttered and when Amy looked up she was met with a look of utter terror. “I`m sorry…you didn´t…pay for that…I…wow I should go…” she muttered and before Amy could even say something to stop her Karma had picked up the trench coat and put it on as she stumbled out of the apartment, throwing the door shut behind herself.


	11. Chapter 11

Amy wasn´t even sure what happened during the rest of the weekend or why it was already Monday morning again. She hadn´t left the bed ever since she had basically hidden under the blankets after Karma had left her apartment and even though her phone had been blowing up with messages Amy had chosen to ignore it. Part of her really just wanted to stay in bed and skip work, but she didn´t have a reasonable explanation for that unless she would fake being sick and even if that worked it would give her three days max, which she would have to catch up on then, and she would end up having to face Liam and Jasmine anyway.

 She sighed and dragged herself out of bed then, telling herself that she would just have to be the grown up in this situation and face what was coming her way. She had fucked things up with Jasmine, so she would have to deal with that, and she would have to deal with Liam trying to apologize to her once again, but Amy could do it. She would be able to get out of this with her head held high, even though she wasn´t quite sure how she was supposed to deal with Karma yet.

 _Who says you´re ever going to see her again?_ A voice in her head asked and Amy almost went straight back to bed, but she was already half way dressed and she wasn´t going to back down now. She purposely avoided the coffee shop today and got her coffee at the little stand next to the office building, because she wasn´t sure if she could get through this without having had her morning coffee.

-

It wasn’t until she had already been at her desk and going through her files, that Liam approached her. Amy almost knocked over her, already, third cup of coffee when he spoke and then looked up to find him standing in front of her desk.

“You didn´t respond to any of my messages,” he simply said and Amy did feel a little bad about that, because she could have at least told him to leave her alone, but she hadn´t even so much looked at her phone ever since the party.

“Well, I was busy.” She then responded, trying his best to look up at him and not anywhere else. _Not that it ever stopped you._ It was weird, honestly, because they had been friends for such a long time and while she had never felt anything remotely romantic for him, Amy still felt bad for turning him down. Never in a million years had she thought that Liam Booker, Ladies Man Liam Booker, would actually have actual feelings for her and after all these years this wasn´t something you just played off like that. Especially not when Liam actually looked hurt and for a moment Amy thought about how he had probably spent the entire weekend trying to reach her to fix things, thinking that she was upset because he had a girlfriend and couldn´t be with her, while she hadn´t even told him that she wasn´t into men at all.

“Were you?” Liam then asked and Amy was barely able to suppress a sigh. If this was how all those talks were going to go down then she might as well have stayed in bed.

“Yes, I was busy. Why wouldn´t I be? I´m a very busy woman, apparently.” Amy shot back and it sounded a little harsher than she had intended it to. She sighed then, fiddling with the open files on her desk.

“I know that, you´ve always been,” Liam then said with a sigh. “Never had a chance to catch you, I thought that…I guess…I mean I thought it would be different now that we´re working here together,”  
Amy´s eyes met with his then and she sighed once more, knowing that this was the moment in which she needed to tell him the truth, but not in an office full of people that were probably eavesdropping already when neither of them needed any more trouble than they were already in.

They eventually ended up going to the roof, because Liam had a key for everything in this goddamn building and Amy didn´t really care anymore, because she was already dreading this talk, and the one she would need to have with Jasmine, enough,  so it didn´t really matter where they would be having it.

“Look, Liam.” She then said, sighing once more as she turned around to face her friend. It was weird, because a while ago Amy would have never considered Liam even so much as her friend, but if she thought back on all those years, he was the one that had always been there.

 _Liam Booker was my only friend._ Amy thought and suddenly she felt her stomach twist and her eyes fill up with tears. _Oh shit no._ She tried blinking the tears away, because there was absolutely no reason why she should be crying right now, but it wasn´t quite working. The wind was stronger up here and blowing her hair into her face and why the hell was this all so frustrating?!

Suddenly there was a jacket being draped across her shoulders and arms were being wrapped around her and Amy didn’t even protest, she just leaned into the embrace, trying her best to keep the sobs down to a minimum. It was stupid, more than that, really, because she had no reason to be so upset, things like this happened, you liked someone and they didn´t like you back, someone liked you and you didn´t like them back, sometimes they were people you had just met and sometimes they were good friends of yours, it happened.

“But why the fuck does it have to happen at the same time?” Amy muttered as she tried taking a breath without breaking out into uncontrollably sobbing once more.

“What?” Liam asked eventually and she sighed, pulling back a little to look up at him. It was surreal, honestly, this whole weekend had been completely surreal and it seemed like it wasn´t going to go back to normal any time soon. Amy pushed a strand of hair from her face, even though it was practically useless considering how strong the wind was, but she tried anyway, and then her eyes met with Liam´s and she immediately felt her stomach twist again.

“It´s just…it´s complicated. I wasn´t upset because _you_ had a girlfriend, but…because of who your girlfriend was,” It had been hard enough to tell him that, but she could see that Liam was probably more confused now than he had been before and that he would probably hate her as soon as she told him the truth and Amy wasn´t sure if she could handle that. Still, she knew that he deserved the truth, just like Jasmine did, even if that meant that she was going to lose the only two people that actually cared about her.

She had to bite her lip, so she wouldn´t start crying again, at that thought and then took a deep breath. “It´s just…I didn´t always turn you down because I thought you were fucking around with me and just out to get into my pants,” she then said, looking up at Liam. “In any other situation I probably would have, and I honestly didn´t think you were being serious, so I apologize…but I´m just…I´m not into boys, I like girls, women. I have ever since High School, but you never believed me and just thought I was fucking with you, like I thought you were fucking with me and I´m sorry, because I feel like we could have been great friends…I´m sorry…” she could feel the tears falling down her cheeks then, because once again she had managed to fuck up, long before this horrible weekend had even happened, and yes, telling someone you didn´t feel the same way they did was horrible, but this was taking on a new dimension of ‘fucked up relationships’ and of course Amy was front row center when it came to that.

“Fuck…”

Liam had been quiet while she had spoken and Amy couldn´t even tell what was happening because the tears were blurring her sight and on top of that there was the wind, which was still blowing her hair into Amy´s face. She wasn´t even sure how long they had stood there, but Liam hadn´t let go of her and Amy couldn´t tell why.

“It´s alright.” was the only thing she then heard before he pulled her back into a hug and she completely lost it then. This would probably be one of those moments they would never talk about again ever, because it would mean that Liam Booker´s perfect track record of getting every girl he wanted was ruined, and that Amy Raudenfeld hadn´t been able to keep up her sarcastic façade and actually shown some feelings, and that towards someone that seemingly had to annoyed her all through her school life. No, they couldn’t risk anyone knowing about this, but just for that one moment, the one moment up there on the roof, when it was just the two of them, it was okay to give in and not be as perfect and strong as they had always pretended to be.


	12. Chapter 12

Liam and Amy somehow made it back down to the office without anyone noticing that they had gone missing for a while. She couldn´t say for how long they had been up there, on the roof, but Amy was just glad that she had remembered to give Liam his jacket back, because the last thing she needed now was any gossip at the office. She had eventually found the courage to also tell him about her somewhat crush on Karma, because there really wasn´t a better word for it, they had seen each other a total of three times and the last time hadn´t gone over too well, so Amy thought it was better for everyone, and mostly for her own sanity, to not let any feelings get too deep.

Liam had been disappointed, obviously, and Amy knew that things would be awkward for a while, but somehow she was glad that he didn´t hate her.

 _What a strange thing to say…_ she then thought, because honestly, a few years ago she couldn´t have cared less, but now, realizing that Liam was basically the only person in this city she had left, or had been having in the first place, Amy was glad that he had stuck around all those years.

The thought of having to go through the same talk, even though with a slightly different focus, with Jasmine had Amy´s stomach twisting already. She liked the other woman, and reasonably speaking Jasmine was the better choice, because she was most definitely a lesbian and she liked Amy, while Karma had taken a run for her money, or for Amy´s, really, but she couldn´t help how she felt.

 She sighed as she returned to her desk, trying to figure out when the best time to talk to Jasmine would be, when she noticed that the other woman´s desk was empty. Amy couldn´t remember seeing Jasmine come in this morning, and if she wasn´t here now, then maybe she hadn´t come in at all?

“Oh God…” she muttered, sinking down into her chair and only barely refraining from banging her head onto the desk. Sure, she wouldn´t have to talk to Jasmine if the other woman wasn´t around, but she hadn´t seemed sick the last time Amy had seen her and that could only mean she had called in sick so she wouldn´t have to see Amy. “I´m so fucked…”

-

The rest of the day was rather uneventful then, Jasmine didn´t show up and Liam offered to walk Amy home, but she politely declined, telling him that she still had some work to catch up on. It wasn´t entirely true, because she was always up to date with her work, but Amy liked to do a little more than she needed to on the weekends, and since she had spent this entire weekend hiding under her blankets she was behind, but only her own schedule.

She wasn´t quite sure for how long she had stayed, but the sun had long set and the lights were illuminating the streets as Amy left the building and made her way towards the subway station. She somehow didn´t feel like going home. _Home,_ if she could actually call it that. When she had moved to New York, Amy had thought that this would be a new start for her, away from all the trouble that seemed to have followed her all her life, but apparently she had been wrong. Suddenly everything seemed to be even worse than people giving her weird looks for liking girls and being an outsider because she had preferred staying in rather than going out and making out with a different person every night.

Amy wasn´t sure when she had missed her stop, or if she had done it on purpose, but when she finally got off the train, she wasn´t more than 4 blocks away from the club that Karma worked at. She knew that it was insane, because Amy didn´t even know whether or not Karma worked tonight, or if she would even want to talk to her, because she hadn´t made a single attempt to contact Amy ever since she had run off, so why would Amy want to do this to herself?  
“Because you´re fucking stupid…” she muttered to herself as she walked down the street, amazed at how well she knew the way to the club after only having been there two times, not that it mattered, really.

The line in front of the club wasn´t too long, probably because it was Monday, but there were still a few people, queueing to get in. They gave Amy a few looks when she passed them, but didn´t say anything when she stopped to talk to the bouncer. She wasn´t even sure what to say, honestly, but apparently she didn´t have to, or at least not immediately, because the guy, whose name Amy had probably heard at some point but had forgotten about, looked up at her and gave her a smile.

“Hey, you´re with Jasmine, right?” he then asked and Amy could only nod. “You wanna get in? Mondays are not the best nights, but it´s less crowded so if you want more privacy it´s the place to be,” he grinned and Amy bit her lip, still not quite sure what she was actually doing here.

“I…uh…is…Karma here tonight?” she then asked, trying not to look as insecure as she felt, and failing miserably, obviously.

“Karma?” the guy then asked, seeming to think for a moment. “I don´t recall her coming in on Mondays, at least not regularly,” he then said, shrugging his shoulders. “Should I check if she´s in though?”

Amy was quick to shake her head. “No, no. Thanks. I´m just gonna…go. Thanks.” She nodded, trying to give him a smile, before she turned around to leave. She only ever really made it about three steps though, because then she collided head first with someone, only barely managing to stay upright.

“I´m s-“

“Amy?” the voice sounded surprised, and maybe a bit higher than usual, but Amy immediately recognized it, before she even looked up to meet Karma´s eyes. “What…what are you doing here?” she asked and Amy felt like her heart had stopped beating for a second. She was trying to gather her thoughts, trying to come up with something clever to say, but nothing would come out, nothing except: “I wanted to see you.”

Karma´s expression changed then and Amy could feel her stomach twist into knots. “No you don´t.” she countered, brushing past the Blonde and towards the entrance of the club. Amy stood there for a moment, confused, before she decided that she wasn´t going down without a fight. She turned around and followed Karma through the door, not even hearing the complaints from the people in the queue when they both just passed the bouncer.

The club wasn´t crowded, there were a few women seated at the tables and only two dancers out on the platforms, it was quiet night, and Amy would have noticed, if she hadn´t been following after Karma, trying not to run into any chairs, tables or waitresses on the way. She barely made it into the dressing room before the Brunette could throw the door into Amy´s face.

She didn´t realize just how out of breath she was until now that she was standing in the middle of the dressing room, facing a rather angry looking Karma. “What do you want? I can call security and have you thrown out any minute!”

Amy furrowed her brows and took a deep breath then, her eyes meeting with Karma´s. “What is wrong with you?” she then asked before she could stop herself.

“Wrong with _me_?” Karma then asked. “ _You´re_ the one following _me_ around!”

Amy shook her head in disbelief. “Yes, because you made out with me and then ran without even giving me a reason why! And don´t say it´s because you´ve got a boyfriend, because I´ve talked to Liam and he told me you guys aren´t a couple anymore, so I don´t know what´s wrong! If you´re not into girls, or if I´m not the right type, then for fucks sake tell me, but don´t just run away!”

There was a silence then, and not one of the good kind, when Karma´s face fell and suddenly she didn´t look angry anymore. She looked…hurt, and almost… _broken?_ Amy thought. But that didn’t make any sense. Sure, being a stripper probably wasn´t what you imagined your career to be when you came to New York, or anywhere, really, but Karma had clearly told her that she was enjoying herself and Amy was sure that, if she wanted to, the woman could be doing something else, so why was she here, tears in her eyes, staring at Amy as if the Blonde had just brought her entire world down?

“I…look.” Amy then said with a sigh, feeling her stomach twist once more. “I don´t know what the hell happened, and I´m sorry if…if I said or did something to offend you, even though I can´t possibly imagine what, but I…I like you, Karma. I did from the first time I saw you at that coffee shop, when I almost spilled coffee over myself because I ran into the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,” Amy bit her lip. “And I didn´t know that this was all going to get so complicated, but apparently I can´t have it easy, no matter how hard I try. So if you would please just tell me that I´m not your type, or that you´re not into women, so I can turn around and go home with what little of my dignity I still h-“

Amy didn´t get to finish her sentence though, because suddenly she was pressed up against the dressing room door, Karma´s lips colliding with hers, and her brain short circuited. She only managed to think _What the hell!_ before kissing back as she felt a shiver run down her spine as the simple contact of their lips.

Amy was fucked.


	13. Chapter 13

The feeling of Karma´s lips pressed up against hers had something mesmerizing to it. It felt like her whole world had stopped spinning for a moment and she was even able to forget all of the problems she had been faced with in the past few weeks, even if it was just for the length of the kiss. For the fraction of a second Amy even wondered if that was how being in love felt like, because truth be told: She had never been in love before. Technically that would have been a reason to drown herself in self-pity, but Amy had never been one to do that, she had always found a way out of her misery, even though she wasn´t quite sure how to deal with what life was throwing at her right now.

She knew that she shouldn´t be here, pressed up against a door and kissing Karma, that was as evident as the fact that her mother would never quite be over the fact that she was gay, but here she was, letting out a moan as Karma ran her tongue over Amy´s bottom lip as if to ask her for permission to deepen the kiss. Amy was pretty sure that, any other day, she would have granted it to Karma, but it seemed like the moan had put her head into its place again and she was pushing the other woman away gently, her hands resting on Karma´s shoulders as if to make sure that she wasn´t going to lean in again, because Amy wasn´t sure if she could resist her again.  
“Stop,” she managed, a little out of breath, as her eyes met with Karma´s. “I…don´t get me wrong, that was amazing. Totally, but…I can´t do that without knowing the reason why you ran last time, and without the promise that you won´t do just that again,” Amy then added, licking her lips, which were still tingling from the kiss not a minute ago.

Karma looked positively wrecked, her lips were swollen red from the kiss and her hair was out of place and Amy didn´t really want to think about the tears that she could see in the other woman´s eyes.

“I didn´t want to…it´s not…it´s so much more complicated than you can imagine,” she sighed and Amy couldn´t help but raise an eyebrow as she leaned back against the door.

“Believe me, I have seen quite the complicated things during the past few weeks, I don´t think there´s anything you can shock me with.” She then told her, but it only seemed to make things worse, because Karma turned away and sat down in one of the chairs, looking back at her reflection in the mirror.

“Liam and I…we used to date, a long time ago.” She then said quietly, her eyes meeting with Amy´s through the mirror. “Our parents were both…rather strict when it came to things like education and traditional values like family, so they had practically decided that Liam and I would get married once we´re old enough and ready. Then we broke up…but we knew that they wouldn´t like it, and as long as we were together our parents would pay for college and I could study whatever I wanted, because they were sure that I would get married right away, once I was done, and would stay home to be a housewife, and well…it was easier for Liam and me to pretend to still be together, because I could go through with my college education and he could get whatever girl he wanted and neither of us would have to deal with the wrath of our parents,” Karma sighed and Amy was shaking her head slowly, not quite believing what she had heard. Sure, she knew the feeling of not fitting into the traditional picture of a family and not being accepted for who she was and what she wanted to do, but she had always rebelled instead of obeying, she had chosen the hard way instead of taking the easy one out.

 _Even though it doesn´t seem like it was that easy after all,_ Amy then thought as her eyes met with Karma´s once more and she reached out to rest her hand on the other woman´s shoulder gently. “What did you study?” she then simply asked, because she wasn´t sure how many questions she was allowed to ask and what she could ask without making things even worse. Usually Amy was someone who bluntly told everyone what she thought, but she could see just how fragile Karma was and she didn´t want to break her.

“I…studied theatre and performance at NYU,” Karma then said with a small smile. “I wanted to be a singer, maybe be on Broadway,” she shook her. “I´ve always loved music, even since I was little, and my parents never minded, I think they always thought I would get married and just forget about it, otherwise they probably wouldn´t have let me do it,”

The tears were falling now, as if they had been held back long enough and Amy found herself squeezing Karma´s shoulder, stepping closer. “Don´t cry…” she then muttered, shaking her head. “I´m sure that you´ll get to do all these things, you just have to go to auditions, maybe sing in coffee shops, your parents shouldn´t be able to still tell you what to do,” She knew that it sounded harsh, but Amy knew what she was talking about. “I´ve had so many fights with my mother, and I can´t even count the times she has threatened to disown me, but I know that, deep down, she loves me and I think that it was a good decision to distance myself from that small ass town in Texas and move to New York to do what I´ve always wanted to do. I´m going to be a successful lawyer and I´m going to find a beautiful woman who loves me and I´ll be happy, and if she still can´t understand it, well…then that´s her problem, not mine.” Amy leaned in, pressing a kiss to the top of Karma´s head. “I´ve decided that I am the one who is responsible for my happiness and that being like other people want me to be isn´t the way to happiness,”

The tears were still falling and Karma was holding back the sobs trying to escape her, but it was hard, especially when Amy was being so gentle with her. It felt ages since anybody had ever touched her like this. Sure, she had been going on a few dates, but between college, pretending to be Liam´s girlfriend and stripping she hadn´t really found the time, or the will, to keep up an actual relationship. This was nice though, despite the tears falling down her cheeks, it was different than when Liam was holding her. His arms were a place where she could simply cry and hold onto him, but Amy´s touch was different, tender and sweet and yet it made Karma´s heart beat faster in her chest. She hadn´t felt like this in a long time, which was probably another reason why she was acting so crazy lately.

“Do you…really think I could…make it? I mean…be a singer, be in a Broadway show? I just…I always wished for it to happen, but with my parents and everything just seemingly getting worse I never actually thought that…you know,” Karma trailed off, looking back at Amy in the mirror as she leaned against the Blonde, wiping her cheeks and eyes. The tears were slowly drying, maybe because she was simply tired, or because everything didn´t seem just as bad as it had a while ago.

Amy´s lips curled into a soft smile and hell, she had never thought that she would get herself caught up into something as complicated as this when she had run into Karma in that coffee shop for the first time, but then again things had never been easy for her and maybe the universe had thought that she would get bored if things were suddenly normal and easy. She didn´t regret meeting Karma though, not at all. Sure, they were both a little fucked up, but she could still feel her heart beating faster from simply being close to the other woman and that was something Amy had never experienced before and she wasn´t ready to give it up just yet.

“Do I think you´re fierce enough to make your way to the top and onto one of those stages?” she then asked, pushing the hair from Karma´s face so the other woman was forced to actually look at herself in the mirror. “Yes, I do, with all my heart. Do I know if you actually have the talent? No, but that can be changed,” Amy nodded before quickly checking her watch and stepping next to Karma, holding out her hand for the other woman to take. “The coffee shop we met at has an open mic night tonight, show me what you´ve got,” her tone was slightly teasing and her lips had curled into a smile.

“What…now?” Karma asked, blinking a few times. “I…I have a shift,” she then said, but it only took her a moment to make the decision to take Amy´s hand and get up from the chair. “You´re right, I´m going to tell them I´m sick, or something. I´ll figure something out, because you deserve to hear me sing, I need…I need someone to tell me that I´m good enough instead…” _Instead of always listening to my parents tell me that I´m a dreamer and that I should get my head out of the clouds,_

Karma nodded once more, biting her lip as she squeezed Amy´s hand, almost afraid to let go. “I´m going to get changed, meet me outside?” she then asked, not even for an answer before she leaned in to press her lips to Amy´s in a short kiss. Amy felt her heart skip a beat at that and simply nodded, because she was sort of at a loss of words for a moment. She bit her lip then, the smile still on her face as she let the door of the wardrobe fall shut behind herself and hurried through the corridor and back into the club to make her way outside as quickly as possible.

The room had filled up quite a bit ever since she had come through earlier, so she had to be careful to not to run over anyone. The last thing she needed now was someone yelling at her now and holding her up when she had something more important to do. Of course the universe wasn´t quite that kind to her, again, because while it was just a few more steps towards the exit she still managed to bump into someone. She was about to just say ‘sorry’ and push past said person, until she realized whom she had run into and the smile on her face froze in its place.

“Jasmine,”


	14. Chapter 14

Jasmine. The last person Amy wanted to see, and the one she needed to see the most. It was a dilemma, but that seemed to become quite a habit lately, her stumbling into any dilemma that she could find. This was one she had to face now though, even though this seemed to be the worst possible place, especially since Karma would be coming after her in a few minutes.  
“Why did I know that I would find you here?” Jasmine asked with a slight chuckle and well, at least she didn´t look too upset, or maybe she was just covering it up rather well, they were lawyers after all and had to keep their poker face whenever it was needed.

“I…yeah. Well.” Amy managed and that was most definitely not a poker face. Life was so much harder to handle than work though, and sometimes she wished that it was the other way around, or that neither of them would be hard to handle, but that was wishful thinking, wasn´t it?

“Come on, we should talk, don´t you think?” And before Amy could protest Jasmine had grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the exit and outside. The city was buzzing and the lights were already on, casting that familiar glow over the buildings and the people. Amy didn´t have time to admire it though, because Jasmine was standing in front of her once more and it seemed like she demanded an explanation, and truth be told: Amy did owe her one.

“Look…Jasmine. I´m sorry.” She eventually sighed, gesturing with her hands, as if she was trying to reach for something she couldn´t quite grasp. “I never meant to lead you on, I do like you, but I came here, and…my life just got so much more complicated, which is astounding since I wasn´t quite sure that it could get any more complicated, but I am truly, truly sorry that I dragged you into this,” Amy nodded, taking a deep breath once she was done, and wow, this sucked. She had never really needed to have this talk, because nobody, except for Liam, had ever been interested in her, and she had always assumed that he hadn´t been serious. Jasmine still didn´t look upset though, which was even more confusing to Amy. She bit her lip, looking back at the other woman, hands shoved into her pockets now so she would stop making weird gestures with them.

“Look, Amy.” Jasmine said eventually, shaking her head. “I did come onto you, and yes, I like you, but I don´t always expect these things to turn into relationships, especially not when it takes me ages to get you to agree to go out with me,” she shook her head once more, her lips curling into a soft smile. “I´m not blind, and neither am I stupid, you should know that. I see what´s happening, and while I might have hoped that you would choose me instead, I can tell when someone´s head over heels in love, and you are head over heels in love, but not with me, and that´s okay. That doesn´t mean that I regret anything though. I want us to be friends, we have to work together anyway, and I don´t want things to be awkward, so can we do that? Be friends?” she smiled again and Amy wasn´t quite sure how to respond to this.

Alright, so this wasn´t as much of a disaster as she had expected it to be. Actually, it wasn´t a disaster at all, and that might have been the reason she was too surprised to say anything. That was also the moment Karma chose to join them, an eyebrow raised and shuffling close to Amy´s side when she noticed Jasmine.

“You.” She then simply said, eyeing her closely and Jasmine couldn´t help but laugh.  
“Easy, tiger. She´s all yours.” She then told her and that was the moment Amy started laughing as well, because this was all way too absurd to be true. Still, here she was, on the side walk outside of a strip club, with her girlfriend, who was a stripper, or well she assumed that Karma was her girlfriend now anyway, and the girl she had used to try and get over Karma, who wasn´t even upset about that fact.

“Amy?” Karma´s voice brought her back then and she looked over, nodding.

“Yes. Yes…all yours, always.” She then said with a nod once the laughter had died down. “We should probably get going or we won´t get good spots for the open mic night,”

“Open mic night?” Jasmine asked with a smile. “Can I come?”

“Well it´s an ‘open’ mic night, so we can´t stop you,” Karma replied faster than Amy could say anything at all.

“Feisty, I like it. You two do make a good couple,” Jasmine said with a laugh as she looked at them. “Though I do not want to bother anyone, I know when I´m not welcomed,”  
Amy nudged Karma with her elbow then, which almost knocked the other woman over, since she hadn´t been prepared for that. She turned to give Amy a look then, but apparently Amy´s pouty face was already working on her, because instead of saying anything she simply rolled her eyes and then looked over at Jasmine. “Fine, you can come. And now let´s go or we´ll actually be late,”

Amy wasn´t quite sure how things had turned out rather well for her, when just an hour ago her whole world had been on the verge of crashing down, but she figured that this was just how things worked. Sure, it wouldn´t be the easiest thing to work with both Liam and Jasmine now, and it wasn´t about to get easier when Liam´s father would find out that Karma wasn´t with Liam anymore and that Karma and Amy were dating now, because she assumed that was what was happening now, but she figured that this was something they all had to deal with and they were grown-ups after all, they had to face these things and find solutions for their problems.

-

When they reached the coffee shop a good amount of people were already there, talking and laughing, while the staff was still setting up the stage for open mic night.

“Anyone want something to drink?” Jasmine asked and Amy shook her head quickly.

“Oh no, I´m paying tonight. There´s no way you´re paying for anything. Not…you know, after all that.” She bit her lip, scrunching up her face a little while Jasmine just smiled.

“Alright, well I´ll take a caramel macchiato,”  Jasmine then let her know while Karma turned to make her way towards the stage so she could sign up, but not without calling back over her shoulder.

“You know my coffee order!” And that Amy did. She thought back to the first time she had seen Karma, and even if she hadn´t realized it back then she was pretty sure that she had fallen in love with her in that moment. Those sparkling green eyes that had pierced themselves into Amy´s own eyes had never let her go ever since and now they were here and Karma was about to sing for her. The way to this point might have not been easy, not at all, but Amy was somehow convinced that it had all been worth it, she had Karma after all and that was all that mattered.

Soon enough the first performer was on stage and the three women were sitting at their table, Karma fidgeting with her hands and moving around on her chair. “Are you nervous?” Amy asked, reaching for Karma´s hand, who was looking up at her. It wasn´t like she had never played in front of an audience, but she did get nervous, and now that Amy was about to watch her it seemed to be getting even worse. “Hey, don´t be. I´m sure you´re going to be fantastic,” Amy was smiling and squeezing Karma´s hand and unless she got up and ran again, there was no way out of this. She didn´t want to run from Amy though, not anymore, and performing was what she wanted to do, so when her name was called, Karma took a deep breath and pressed her lips to Amy´s once more, as if that would give her the courage to go up on that stage.

It did eventually, because Karma moved through the café, her lips curling into a smile as everyone applauded when she made her way up onto the stage and reached for the microphone. She didn´t have the time to bring her own guitar, but thankfully one of the musicians, who where there to accompany the singers, was willing to lend her his, so once she had adjusted and looked out at the audience, Karma´s eyes found Amy´s and her lips curled into a smile.

“Hello. Uhm…good evening. My name is Karma Ashcroft and I´m singing this for my…for my girlfriend Amy, who´s over there,” she pointed into Amy´s direction, the smile on her face getting even brighter.

It wasn´t long until the first notes of the song were playing and the whole café went quiet as Karma began to sing.

_“This crowded room has a hundred ghosts_   
_But it's your pretty green eyes that please me the most,_   
_I fully know this is dangerous,_   
_But I've never been too good at control,_   
_'Cause when I look at you, baby, it's like looking straight into the sun_   
_And I don't want to look away 'cause I know I'm gonna lose my guns,_   
_Go ahead and take my conviction,_   
_Go ahead and take my everything,”_

Karma knew the song by heart, and as soon as she was singing the nervousness was gone, like it had never been there. She was smiling, still feeling the touch of Amy´s hand and her lips on her own and it made Karma feel…alive. Something she had felt in a very long time, at least not to this extent, and she was enjoying it, oh she was enjoying it very much.

_“_ _Sick and tired of being alone,_   
_Take my hand I don't wanna go home,_   
_I just want a little bit of your ecstasy,_   
_The stars won't know what hit them when they brought together you and_   
_Won't know what hit them when they brought together you and me,”_

A few weeks ago Amy couldn´t have even begun to think that she would stumble into something like this, hell, a few hours ago she hadn´t believed that all of this would work out, but it seemed that, for once, she was going to be the lucky one. And the moment her eyes met with Karma´s again, the moment she could feel that spark inside of her ignite, Amy knew that things would be great, that, for once, she had done something right and wouldn´t end up alone, no. She had Karma now, and while there were problems to work out, and not exactly small once, she was convinced that they could do it, especially with the help of their friends, like Liam and Jasmine, and Karma seemed to think the same, because her smile got even brighter, matching Amy´s. Yes, they would most definitely be alright.

_“So, let your bones show, let your bones show,_   
_Won't have to hide, have to hide, hide anymore,_   
_Our animal love, animal love will be enough to protect the both of us,”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That´s it. Thanks to everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I do have a small epilogue in mind, so if you want to read it, let me know and I´ll write it up! :)


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